BAGHDAD, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces found a mass grave containing the remains of over 50 people believed to be killed by Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq's northern province of Kirkuk, the Iraqi military said Tuesday.
A federal police force found the bodies in one of the villages while hunting for IS militants near the provincial capital Kirkuk, some 250 km north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, Yehia Rasool, the spokesman of the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, said in a statement.
"The mass grave contains the remains of more than 50 bodies of the people who were executed by the gangs of IS militants during their control of the area," Rasool said.
The search came as IS militants intensify their attacks on the security forces, including Hashd Shaabi forces, and civilians in the formerly IS-controlled Sunni provinces, resulting in the killing and wounding of dozens of people.
The security situation in Iraq has been improving since Iraqi security forces fully defeated the IS across the country in late 2017.
However, IS remnants have since melted in urban areas or deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians. Enditem
