TIKRIT, Iraq, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Up to 14 people were killed on Saturday when a group of Islamic State (IS) militants attacked a village in Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, a provincial security source told Xinhua.
In the early morning, about 20 IS militants attacked the village Mseihly near the newly-freed western side of the town of Shirqat, some 280 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, sparking heavy clashes with the paramilitary Sunni tribal fighters at the village, the source from Salahudin Operations Command said on condition of anonymity.
The heavy shootout and explosions at the village left some 10 villagers, including three women and a child, and five IS militants killed, the source said.
The attackers apparently infiltrated from the IS-held eastern bank of Shirqat across the Tigris River, which bisects the town, the source added.
In September 2016, the Iraqi forces recaptured the western bank of Shirqat from IS militants during its advance northward to dislodge IS militants from the northern province of Nineveh and its capital Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad.
The attack occurred as the Iraqi security forces, backed by anti-IS international coalition, are carrying out a major offensive to drive out the IS militants from their major stronghold in the western side of Mosul in northern Iraq.
