Baghdad, March 11 : Iraqi security forces killed four Islamic State (IS) militants in an operation in a desert area in central Iraq, the Iraqi military said.

Paramilitary fighters from local tribal forces affiliated with the Iraqi Hashd Shaabi forces chased a pickup truck carrying four IS militants and clashed with them in the Tharthar desert, destroying the truck and killing all militants aboard, including one wearing an explosive belt, according to a statement on Sunday from the Security Media Cell, a media outlet affiliated with the Iraqi Joint Operations Command.

The incident came as part of an operation conducted by the Iraqi army, police, and Hashd Shaabi forces to hunt down IS militants in the vast desert in the provinces of Salahudin, Nineveh, and Anbar, the statement said as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

The statement added that the Iraqi forces possess "accurate intelligence information" about the whereabouts of terrorists and pledged to "pursue and eliminate them in every inch of the Iraqi desert".

The latest killing of IS militants brought the number of extremist militants killed by the Iraqi forces in Tharthar desert to ten during the past 24 hours, the statement said.

On Saturday, Iraqi warplanes reportedly carried out four airstrikes on six IS militants hiding inside a tunnel in the Tharthar desert and killed them all.

The security situation in Iraq has improved since the defeat of the IS in 2017. However, IS remnants have sneaked into urban centres, deserts, and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians.

/IANS