Three members of the Iraqi security forces were killed Saturday when an Islamic State group truck bomb they were trying to defuse exploded west of Baghdad, police officials said.

A large truck packed with explosives was intercepted by security forces in the Tamim neighbourhood of Ramadi, the main city in Iraq's vast western province of Anbar.

"Three members of the police's disposal team, one of them a lieutenant colonel, were killed and the head of the squad was wounded, as they tried to defuse the truck," said a police lieutenant colonel.

Iraq's interior ministry spokesman said the driver was arrested.

Security forces retook Ramadi from IS jihadists early this year and recaptured Fallujah, which lies closer to Baghdad in the Euphrates Valley, in June.

While anti-IS forces have now retaken much of the sprawling province --  which has borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia -- the jihadists have been harassing security forces regularly.

Source: AFP