TIKRIT, Iraq, June 18 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi police on Monday found six executed bodies believed to be the shepherds who were kidnapped on Sunday night by the extremist Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq's central province of Salahudin, a provincial security source said.
The police found the bodies wearing traditional white robes dumped in Tlul al-Baj area in the northern part of Salahudin province, Colonel Mohammed al-Jubouri, from the media office of Salahudin's provincial police, told Xinhua.
The bodies were found blindfolded and handcuffed with bullet holed in their heads, Jubouri said.
Earlier on Monday, a security source told Xinhua that IS militants kidnapped eight shepherds late on Sunday night from their houses in a rural area in the north of the town of Shirqat, some 280 km north of Baghdad.
Also late on Sunday night, the extremist militants disguised in military uniforms set up a fake checkpoint on the main road in Enjanah area between Baghdad and Kirkuk province to waylay buses and trucks, killing two truck drivers and kidnapping seven including an army officer, said Udai al-Khadran, mayor of the town of Khalis, some 70 km northeast of Baghdad.
Enjanah is part of the mountainous Himreen area on the border between the northern part of Diyala province and the eastern part of neighboring Salahudin province.
During the past few months, hundreds of IS militants fled their former urban strongholds in Mosul, Salahudin province and Hawija area in the west of Kirkuk, after Iraqi forces cleared these regions of IS militants during major offensives.
On Dec. 9, 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi officially declared full liberation of Iraq from the IS after Iraqi forces recaptured all the areas once seized by the extremist group.
However, small groups and individuals of IS militants have since then regrouped in rugged areas including Himreen, carrying out attacks against security forces and civilians despite operations from time to time to hunt them down.
