Iraq: The Islamic State executed over 40 people in Iraq's western province of Anbar on Tuesday, an official said. IS militants captured these people from the albu-Obeid Sunni tribe. The captives included, policemen and members of the government-backed Sahwa paramilitary group.
IS militants laid siege to a neighbourhood in the town housing dozens of families of security members and Sahwa fighters, said the official. He added that residents were fighting back IS attacks but were facing acute shortage of food, drinking water, weapons and ammunition.
The targeted town is located near the major air base of Ain al-Asad, which houses over 600 American Marines. However, their attacks on the air base were repelled by security forces and US aircrafts, while fighting continued in the town after Iraqi troops regained control of large parts of it.
The IS group has seized around 80 percent of Iraq's largest province of Anbar and has been trying to advance toward Baghdad. But several counter attacks by security forces and Shia militias pushed them back from western areas of the capital.
The security situation in Iraq started drastically deteriorating June 10, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and IS. 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.
