BAGHDAD, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi province of Salahudin on Tuesday warned of increasing attacks by Islamic State (IS) militants, holding the government in Baghdad responsible for security deterioration.
Ahmed Abdul Jabbar al-Kraiym, head of the provincial council, said at a press conference that dozens of people have been killed and kidnapped recently.
Kraiym warned of "catastrophic situation in the province if the government does not deal with the increasing presence of Daesh (IS group) militants, as some families started to leave their homes because of the extremist militants."
Kraiym blamed the Iraqi government and the security forces for the deterioration of the security in the province.
The security forces "are busy with smuggling fuel and taking bribes from the citizens at checkpoints, while neglecting the security file," he charged.
Recently, IS militants repeatedly carried out attacks on security forces and civilians, and abducted dozens of people at fake checkpoints on a main road in eastern part of the province.
During the past months, hundreds of IS militants fled their former urban strongholds in Mosul, Salahudin province and Hawija area in the west of Kirkuk, after Iraqi forces took over these regions in major offensives.
On Dec. 9, 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi officially declared full liberation of Iraq from the IS after Iraqi forces recaptured all the areas once seized by the extremist group.
However, small groups of IS militants have since then regrouped in rugged areas, carrying out attacks against security forces and civilians.
