Islamic State Fighters 'Killed By Herd Of Wild Boar'

Wild boar have mauled three Islamic State militant to death as they were lying in wait setting an ambush, according to locals.

Five other fighters were injured in the "attack".

The militants were said to be hiding in reeds ready to attack tribesmen who had started fighting back against IS after they had been driven out of the town of Hawija by the militant group in 2014.

Sheikh Anwar al-Assi, a chief of the local Ubaid tribe and supervisor of an anti-IS brigade, told The Times:

“It is likely their movement disturbed a herd of wild pigs, which inhabit the area as well as the nearby cornfields."

“The area is dense with reeds, which are good for hiding in.”

He claimed that eight men had been hiding there waiting to attack.

The incident is said to have happened on Sunday, shortly after IS had put 25 people to death in Hawija for trying to flee.

The town, located east of the road from Baghdad to Mosul, is home to more than 150,000 largely Sunni Arabs.

It is one of only three strongholds in Iraq over which the group has complete control. The others are Qaim and Tal Afar.