BAGHDAD, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Two civilians were killed and five others wounded Thursday in an attack by Islamic State (IS) militants on a village in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a local official said.
The incident took place in the evening when IS militants attacked a village near the town of Abu Saida, some 90 km northeast of Baghdad, sparking a fierce clash with the villagers, Harith al-Rubaie, mayor of the town, told Xinhua.
Afterwards, the villagers chased the attackers in the nearby orchards, but a roadside bomb planted by the extremist militants detonated and killed two villagers and wounded five others; two of the wounded are in a critical condition, al-Rubaie said.
Despite repeated military operations in Diyala, some IS militants are still hiding in some rugged areas near the border with Iran, and in the sprawling areas extending from the western part of the province to the Himreen mountain range in the northern part of the province.
The security situation in Iraq was dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces fully defeated the extremist IS militants across the country late in 2017.
IS remnants, however, have since melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas, carrying out guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians despite military operations from time to time to hunt them down.
