IS executes 17 in Iraq

Militants of the Islamic State (IS) Sunni radical group Monday executed 17 people in two predominantly Sunni provinces in north and east of Iraq's capital Baghdad, a security source said.

In Salahudin province, the militants executed 13 people from the Sunni tribe of al-Jubour in the town of al-Alam, just east of the provincial capital city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The victims are part of 150 people who were kidnapped from the town by the IS militants more than a month ago, the source said, adding that it was not known whether the rest of those kidnapped were alive or have been executed.

The militants threw the bodies of the executed men and prevented their families from burying their bodies, he said.

Salahudin is the hometown of former president Saddam Hussein. Large parts of the province has been under the control of the extremist Sunni militants since early June.

In Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, the IS militants executed four people, including a policeman, who were kidnapped two months ago from their houses north of the town of Maqdadiyah, some 100 km northeast of Baghdad, a provincial security source told Xinhua.

Monday's executions came a day after the militants in Anbar province carried out mass executions of 19 policemen after they seized al-Wafaa area, just southwest of the provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad.

The security situation in Iraq has drastically deteriorated since June 10, when bloody clashes broke out between the Iraqi security forces and the IS group.