DHAKA: Islamic State (IS) militants have killed 25 members of a Sunni Muslim tribe during their assault on a provincial capital west of Baghdad, local officials said on Saturday, in apparent revenge for tribal opposition to the extremists.

They said the bodies of the men from the Albu Fahd tribe were discovered after the army launched a counter-offensive on Saturday against IS in a village on the eastern edge of Ramadi, capital of Anbar province.

‘While they were combing the territories they are liberating, security forces found 25 corpses in the Shujariya area,’ Hathal Al-Fahdawi, a member of the Anbar Provincial Council, told the media, reports The Straits Times.

Albu Fahd tribal leader Sheikh Rafie al-Fahdawi said at least 25 bodies had been found and said he expected the total to be significantly higher.

He said the bodies were found scattered around with no signs of weapons next to them, suggesting they were not killed during fighting.

BDST: 2018 HRS, NOV 22, 2014