Three members of one family killed in suspected militia attack in Iraq’s Diyala province

Three members of one family were killed in an attack by militants on a house near the town of Khalis in Iraq's northeastern province of Diyala.

"Militants stormed a house in the village of Tahwila near Khalis, early on Wednesday morning, and killed the homeowner, his wife, and one of their sons," a security official in Diyala, who did not give his name, told The New Arab’s sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

He added that the couple's other son had managed to escape but was wounded before militants withdrew from the village.

Militias and armed groups are active in Diyala province, which has become increasingly lawless despite the Iraqi government's attempts to restore law and order.

Iraqi local media said that the militants had set fire to the house of the family but that the motive for the attack was unknown.

Local authorities and security bodies in Diyala have so far made no official statement regarding the incident.

However, an anonymous official from the Diyala province governorate told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that militias were particularly active in Khalis and similar crimes had been seen in the past.

"The plan to impose law and order [in Diyala] which [Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia] Sudani recently announce has not achieved any results," the official added.

He called for a "review of the implementation of the plan and refusal of political pressure to continue the hegemony of militias in [the province] and covering up of their crimes".

Sudani leads a government that has the support of the Coordination Framework, a coalition of pro-Iran political groups with links to armed militias.

On a visit to Diyala on 8 March, the prime minister met with security and military leaders and gave them two weeks to reimpose order in the province and detain those involved in attacks on civilians.