BAGHDAD: Iraqi army helicopters hit a jihadist convoy in eastern Syria on Sunday, killing at least eight, in a show of strength just days before the country’s first general election since 2010.

It was the first strike inside Syria claimed by Iraq since the three-year uprising against President Bashar al-Assad erupted in March 2011.

The conflict has spilt across the border, contributing to the most dramatic rise of violence in Iraq since the country’s 2006-2008 sectarian war, with more than 600 people killed so far this month.

Meanwhile, Iraqis living overseas began voting in the parliamentary election in which Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is seeking a third term despite worsening sectarian tensions at home, rampant corruption and high unemployment.

Polling day inside Iraq is Wednesday.

“The army struck eight tanker trucks in Wadi Suwab inside Syrian territory as they were trying to enter Iraqi territory to provide the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) with fuel,” interior ministry spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan said.

ISIL emerged in Iraq in the wake of the US-led invasion in 2003, and later expanded into Syria during the uprising against Assad.

Maan said “there was no coordination with the Syrian regime” over the strike.

“Our responsibility now is to protect our border and to protect the border from the other side, because there is no protection from the other side,” he said.

The targeted vehicles were apparently travelling to the western Iraqi province of Anbar, where ISIL has been battling Iraqi security forces.