SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Five civilians were killed in an Islamic State (ISIS) ambush in Khanaqin district late on Sunday, a security official said on Monday.
ISIS militants attacked the villages of Um Hanta and Qala in Jalawla sub-district in west of Khanaqin, a disputed area claimed by both the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
The militants kidnapped two civilians from the villages, a security source told Esta Media Network.
Director of Asayish (security) in Kulajo Shamal Abdulrahman said family members of the two pursued the militants to rescue the abductees but the militants ambushed them.
Five civilians including two Kurds and three Arabs were killed and three others were wounded in the ambush, Abdulrahman told Esta Media Network.
Shafaq News reported that the civilians were ambushed on the outskirts of Saif Saad village, 35 kilometers north of Jalawla in Diyala province.
The abductees managed to escape after clashes erupted between the militants and the members of their family, according to Shafaq News.
ISIS militants intermittently carry out attacks against civilians in disputed areas, killing and kidnapping dozens of civilians.
Iraq declared victory over Islamic State in December 2017 but the militants have regrouped in the Hamrin mountain range which extends into the northern provinces – an area described by officials as a “triangle of death”.
