BAGHDAD, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Unidentified gunmen kidnapped on Saturday 12 people from a village in Salahudin province north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad and later executed eight of them, a provincial police source said.

Heavily armed gunmen, disguised in security uniform, entered al-Farhatiyah village near the town of Balad, some 80 km north of Baghdad, and kidnapped 12 villagers to an unknown destination, Mohammed al-Bazi from the provincial police told Xinhua.

Later in the day, the police found handcuffed bodies of eight of the kidnapped villagers with bullet holes in their heads and chests, said al-Bazi.

The vast rural areas in Salahudin province have witnessed intense activities for the Islamic State (IS) militants during the past few months, despite repeated military operations to hunt down the extremists.

The security situation in Iraq has been dramatically improved since Iraqi security forces fully defeated the IS across the country late in 2017.

However, IS remnants have since melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians. Enditem

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