The IS would-be suicide bomber was killed by a force from the Iraqi army while riding a motorcycle laden with explosives, Sabah al-Obaidi from al-Jazira Operations Command told Xinhua.

He attempted to target a position of security forces near the town of al-Qaim on the border with Syria, al-Obaidi said.

In a separate incident, two IS militants attacked security forces in an area south of the city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Iraq's capital Baghdad and were both killed, he added.

The security situation in Iraq was dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces fully defeated the extremist IS militants across the country late in 2017.

IS remnants, however, have since melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas as safe havens, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians.