BAGHDAD, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Gunmen broke into the house of a government-backed paramilitary leader in a village in Iraqi Anbar province and shot dead nine people, a local official said on Monday.
The attack took place at night when unidentified gunmen shot dead the leader of the Sunni paramilitary group and eight people who were at his home in the village of al-Dhabttiyah near the town of Garma, some 40 km west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, Ahmed al-Dulaimi, mayor of Garma, told Xinhua.
Iraqi security forces rushed to the scene and launched a search campaign in the area looking for the attacker who fled the house after the attack, Dulaimi said.
Dulaimi believes the attack was conducted by the remnants of the Islamic State (IS) militants in the province.
The security situation in Iraq has been dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces 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.
They are carrying out attacks against the security forces and civilians despite operations to hunt them down.
