BAGHDAD, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces Tuesday found bodies of six civilians abducted the day before by Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq's western province of Anbar, a provincial security source said.
Security forces launched a search operation during the day to track eight civilians abducted on Monday by IS extremist militants at the desert near the town of al-Nukhib, some 300 km southwest of the provincial capital Ramadi, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
"The troops found bodies of six civilians riddled with bullets in their heads and bodies, who were civilians abducted by the extremist IS militants," the source said.
The source put the number of abducted civilians near al-Nukhib on Monday at ten. One was immediately shot dead by IS militants; nine were kidnapped, with the six bodies found and the destiny of the three others still unknown.
Late on Monday, a source from Anbar's provincial police command reportedly told Xinhua that IS militants abducted eight civilians and executed one of them before they dragged the seven others to unknown place.
For his part, Abdullah al-Enezi, head of al-Enezah tribe, which dwells in the town of al-Nukhib, said that "the six bodies are for truffle collectors who came to the desert from the cities of Karbala, Anbar and Diwaniyah."
Earlier on Tuesday, the Iraqi security forces carried out an operation in the early morning hours and freed five truffle collectors who were kidnapped four days ago by the extremist militants in Anbar desert near the town of Rawa, some 280 km northwest of the capital Baghdad.
The IS militants are still active in the vast Anbar desert that stretches to the border with neighboring countries of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, as many civilians have been kidnapped or killed by the extremist group recently.
The security situation in Iraq has been dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces declared they had fully defeated the extremist IS militants across the country late in 2017.
However, small groups and individuals of extremist militants melted or regrouped in urban or fled to desert and rugged areas, and have been carrying out attacks against the security forces and civilians despite operations from time to time to hunt them down.
