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Islamic State (IS) militants on Wednesday executed over 40 people from a tribe the Albu Nimr tribe, which had battled them in the province of Anbar.
According to local sources, the tribesmen were killed in the Heet region to the northwest of Baghdad, which had been overrun by the IS earlier in the month. However, there are no hard statistics on the exact number of people killed, with many suggesting that around 48 tribesmen were killed.
The IS has run over the Anbar province this past month; the killings were probably aimed at discouraging powerful local tribes from resisting the group.
Pro-government troops have suffered several setbacks in the province in recent weeks, prompting warning that Anbar, whose borders stretch from Saudi Arabia to Jordan, could fall entirely.
Pictures of the aftermath of the execution were reportedly circulating on Twitter, with one picture supposedly showing a line of over 30 dead people in civilian clothing on the street as children and young men looked on. The victims were barefoot, with many blindfolded and with their hands tied behind their back.
The IS has not claimed responsibility for the public executions, but has executed several hundreds of people in areas of Syria and Iraq it controls.
Rights group Human Rights Watch says that it has evidence that the group has executed around 560 and 770 men, most of whom were captured soldiers, earlier in the year. Monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has also said that the IS has executed hundreds of a Syrian tribe which has fought against them.
The IS has spearheaded an offensive which has swept through territory in Iraqi Arab heartland since June this year, brushing aside security forces. Iraqi federal soldiers, Shi’ite militia and a few Sunni tribes have tried to push the IS back, but have only made limited progress.