2 village chiefs shot dead by gunmen in Iraq's Diyala

BAQUBA, Iraq, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Three people, including two senior local officials, were shot dead in overnight attacks by gunmen in two villages in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a local official said Tuesday.

Unidentified gunmen broke into the house of the administrative chief of a village near the town of Jalawlaa, some 150 km northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, and shot dead the official and his son before fleeing the scene, Yaqoub Mulla-Ali, mayor of Jalawlaa, told Xinhua.

Shortly after the attack, another group of armed men broke into the house of the administrative chief of another village in northeast of Jalawlaa and shot him dead, Ali said.

Iraqi security forces have launched investigations into the attacks to identify the attackers, Ali added.

Tensions have been running high in Diyala amid the military operations against insurgent groups, mainly the extremist Islamic State (IS) group.

During the past few months, dozens of IS militants fled their former bases in the predominately Sunni Arab provinces of Diyala, Salahudin, Hawijah area in west of Kirkuk, after the Iraqi forces carried out major anti-IS offensives to drive out the militants from these areas.

On Dec. 9, 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi officially declared full liberation of Iraq from IS militants after Iraqi forces recaptured all the areas once seized by the group.

However, some remnants of IS militants still hide in urban areas or the deserts and rugged areas, looking for chances to launch terror attacks against Iraqi security forces and civilians. Enditem