TIKRIT, Iraq, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Ten people were killed and six others wounded on Saturday in a roadside bomb explosion while fleeing their homes in a town seized by Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq's northern Kirkuk province, a security source told Xinhua.
The incident took place in the morning when the families, who fled the town of Hawijah in southwestern Kirkuk, were moving on a road in the mountainous Himreen area, some 50 km east of Tikrit, the capital city of the neighboring Salahudin province, the source said on condition of anonymity.
Most of the killed and wounded were women and children, the source said.
They were seeking help from security forces outside the besieged town of Hawijah, the source added.
The civilians in the IS-held town of Hawijah were prevented from leaving their homes by the IS militants who used them as human shields during armed military attacks.
Hundreds of people were killed by roadside bombs planted by IS militants in the past months, while they were trying to flee the areas seized by the extremist IS militants.
The incident came as Iraqi security forces, backed by the anti-IS international coalition, were simultaneously conducting a major offensive to dislodge IS militants from their major stronghold in western Mosul in northern Iraq.
