IS militants execute 40 people in Iraq's Anbar province

The Islamic State (IS) militants Tuesday executed over 40 people, many were security members, in Iraq's western province of Anbar, a provincial security source said.

The battlefield town is located near the major air base of Ain al-Asad which houses hundreds of U.S. troops.

IS militants captured over 40 people from the albu-Obeid Sunni tribe, including policemen and members of the government-backed Sahwa paramilitary group, in the town of al-Baghdadi, and executed them then burned their remains, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The battles in and near al-Baghdadi have continued since Thursday when IS militants attacked the town and nearby Ain al-Asad air base and seized the town.

However, their attacks on the air base were repelled by security forces and U.S. aircraft, while fighting continued in the town after Iraqi troops regained control of large parts of it.

Meanwhile, IS militants laid siege to a neighborhood in the town housing dozens of families of security members and Sahwa fighters, said the source.

He added that residents are fighting back IS attacks but families are facing acute shortage in food and drinking water, as well as in weapons and ammunition.

The source warned that "the town could fall into the hands of IS militants if military support doesn't come in time, and the extremist militants will massacre the townspeople."

Saturday IS militants also executed 33 people in the town, many were local policemen and Sahwa members, according to a security source.

Ain al-Asad military base is used by Iraqi military forces, as well as roughly 300 U.S. Marines in their capacity as military trainers and advisers.

The IS group has seized around 80 percent of Iraq's largest province of Anbar and tried to advance toward Baghdad, but several counter attacks by security forces and Shiite militias pushed them back from western areas of the capital.

Since December of last year, there have been insurgent attacks in the Sunni Arab heartland west of Baghdad which stretches through the Anbar province.

Anbar province was the scene of fierce clashes which flared up once Iraqi police disbanded an anti-government protest outside Ramadi city.

The security situation in Iraq started drastically deteriorating June 10, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and IS, an al-Qaida offshoot.

IS took control of the country's northern province of Nineveh, later seizing swathes of territories once Iraqi security forces abandoned their posts in other predominantly Sunni provinces. Endit