ISIS militants slaughtered a dozen members of the same family, including women and children, on Saturday.
The terrorists attacked the village of al-Farahatiyah in northern Iraq, Ammar Hekmat, the deputy governor of the Salahuddin province, told the Associated Press.
The reason ISIS targeted the family wasn’t immediately clear.
“We’re not sure if one of the family members was a police officer, but IS has a presence in desert areas like Salahuddin, Mosul and Diyala,” an Iraqi intelligence official said. “They carry out attacks in villages outside the cities to scare families and remind them they are still there.”
The Iraqi government officially declared victory over the militants in December, after driving them out of the last areas of its self-proclaimed “caliphate” near the border with Syria. But the group has continued carrying out sporadic attacks, mainly targeting security forces.
ISIS controlled about a third of Iraq’s territory about three years ago.
“Operation Inherent Resolve,” the US-led campaign against ISIS, stepped up its operations in the past few months, the Pentagon said Friday.
In May, the coalition conducted 225 strikes, up from 183 in April and just 74 in March. A “strike” can mean bombing by aircraft or drone, rocket-propelled artillery or ground-based artillery.
The Pentagon said it plans to continue operations against remaining ISIS forces in northern Iraq and along the country’s border with Syria.