IS attack on Iraqi village kills eight people

Hundreds of mourners attended funerals in a village north of Iraq's capital on Saturday for eight people killed in attacks claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group, an AFP reporter said. 

The attacks took place on Friday and killed six members of the same family, including two women, along with a lawyer and a policeman.

Witnesses said men in military uniform had carried out the three attacks on the victims' homes in the village of Al-Bou Dor in the north-central province of Salahuddin.

Following an investigation, Iraq's Security Media Cell said in a statement that IS members entered the area disguised as soldiers, under the pretext of carrying out an inspection.

The Iraqi military said it was a revenge attack ordered by a village resident who had been driven out by neighbours who accused him of being an IS member.

A local official said the investigation will now focus on how the IS militants were able to infiltrate the area, particularly looking at the role of security and police officers.

An IS statement said those targeted on Friday had been spying for the Popular Mobilisation Forces, (Hashed al-Shaabi), a Shia-led militia coalition that played a key role in 2017 in ending the jihadists' control of swathes of Iraqi territory.

Interior Minister Othman al-Ghanmi and army chief of Staff Abdul Amir al-Shammari on Saturday led a delegation to Salahuddin province to oversee the investigation and visit the victims’ families.

The attack comes amid what observers are calling a possible resurgence of IS.

Government forces launched an anti-IS campaign dubbed “Revenge of the Martyrs” following twin suicide attacks in a Baghdad market last January, which IS claimed responsibility for.

Iraq declared IS territorially defeated in December 2017 after a three-year fight aided by US-led air strikes.

IS attacks in urban areas dramatically dropped after that, but Iraqi troops have continued to battle sleeper cells in the country's mountainous and desert areas.

Agencies contributed to this report.

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