ISIS militants killed 11 Iraqi soldiers in an overnight raid on army headquarters in the eastern province of Diyala, the state news agency said on Friday.
The attack was one of the deadliest carried out by the extremist group against Iraqi security forces in recent months.
The army's Diyala Operations Command sent reinforcements to the headquarters in Hawi Al Azim district and opened an investigation.
“The attack was carried out against members of the First Division in the Al Azim area that lies on the borders between Diyala and Salaheddin governorate,” Diyala Governor Muthanna Al Tamimi said in a statement.
Mr Al Tamimi said the army were unprepared for the attack.
“The main reason [for this attack] is negligence on the part of soldiers because the base is fortified,” he said.
“There is a thermal camera, night-vision goggles and a concrete watchtower.”
Frequent attacks along the border between Diyala and Salaheddin have been blamed on a lack of security co-ordination between the two provinces.
Iraq declared victory over ISIS in late 2017 after reclaiming northern and western regions seized by the extremist group in 2014.
But remnants of the group have been carrying out a low-level ISIS insurgency, particularly in the north, that is disrupting efforts to restore stability to Iraq after years of warfare and sectarian unrest.
The country currently faces a political vacuum as parliamentary groups try to agree on the formation of a new government following a general election in October.
Iraqi President Barham Salih said the latest attack in Diyala targeted the country's security and that attempts to revive terrorism cannot be taken lightly.
“Our duty is to form a capable government that protects national security and serves the people,” Mr Salih said on Twitter.
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi said the crime would "not pass without decisive punishment."
"Our forces will have a resounding response against the murderous terrorists. Our heroic armed forces have a duty to prevent the recurrence of these violations and to pursue terrorists everywhere, for the sake of Iraq and the Iraqis," he wrote on Twitter.
Last October, ISIS militants raided a predominantly Shiite village in Diyala province, killing 11 civilians and wounding several others.
Officials said the attack occurred after the militants kidnapped villagers and their demands for ransom were not met.
The previous month, ISIS fighters killed 10 policemen and injured four in an attack on a guard post near the northern city of Kirkuk.
Police sources said the attackers clashed for two hours with police stationed at a village in the town of Rashad, 30 kilometres south-west of Kirkuk.
In July, ISIS claimed the bombing of a market in Sadr city, a Shiite suburb of the capital Baghdad, that killed dozens of people.
A UN report last year estimated that about 10,000 ISIS fighters remain active in Iraq and across the border in Syria.
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Children who witnessed blood bath want to help others
Aged just 11, Khulood Al Najjar’s daughter, Nora, bravely attempted to fight off Philip Spence. Her finger was injured when she put her hand in between the claw hammer and her mother’s head.
As a vital witness, she was forced to relive the ordeal by police who needed to identify the attacker and ensure he was found guilty.
Now aged 16, Nora has decided she wants to dedicate her career to helping other victims of crime.
“It was very horrible for her. She saw her mum, dying, just next to her eyes. But now she just wants to go forward,” said Khulood, speaking about how her eldest daughter was dealing with the trauma of the incident five years ago. “She is saying, 'mama, I want to be a lawyer, I want to help people achieve justice'.”
Khulood’s youngest daughter, Fatima, was seven at the time of the attack and attempted to help paramedics responding to the incident.
“Now she wants to be a maxillofacial doctor,” Khulood said. “She said to me ‘it is because a maxillofacial doctor returned your face, mama’. Now she wants to help people see themselves in the mirror again.”
Khulood’s son, Saeed, was nine in 2014 and slept through the attack. While he did not witness the trauma, this made it more difficult for him to understand what had happened. He has ambitions to become an engineer.
