The extremist Islamic State militants on Friday shot dead six family members in an attack on their house in Salahudin province north of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, a provincial police source said.
The attack took place in the early hours of the day when IS militants broke into a house in Jillam area near the city of Samarra, some 120 kilometres north of Baghdad, and opened fire at the family members, killing a man, three of his sons, a woman and a child, Mohammed al-Bazi told Xinhua.
The attackers also burnt the house, two cars, and the family’s wheat farm as well as livestock before they fled the scene, al-Bazi said.
Iraqi security forces rushed to the scene and launched a search campaign, looking for the attackers, he added.
The security situation in Iraq has been improving since Iraqi security forces fully defeated the IS militants across the country late in 2017.
However, IS remnants have since melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerrilla attacks against security forces and civilians.
- NAN
