KIRKUK, Iraq –  A Kurdish officer says militants have launched multiple suicide attacks against a Peshmerga base north of Baghdad, killing two troops.

Maj. Gen. Hiwa Rash says five militants disguised in military uniforms carried out the attack at dawn Sunday on the K1 base outside the northern city of Kirkuk. He said two militants blew themselves up at the entrance and three others were killed in an exchange of gunfire.

Three more Peshmerga forces were wounded, he added.

The Islamic State group in a statement later Sunday claimed responsibility for the attack.

Some U.S. troops are stationed in that base.

The attack comes as advance of the U.S.-backed government forces has slowed in nearby Mosul city mainly in the densely-populated and old part of it.