TIKRIT, Iraq, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces on Sunday killed a leader of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group and five of his aides in an operation in Iraq's central province of Salahudin, the Iraqi military said.

Acting on intelligence reports, the security forces raided an IS hideout at the desert near the town of Shirqat, some 280 km north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, and killed Abu Islam al-Iraqi, a prominent provincial IS leader, and five militants, Salahudin provincial operations command said in a statement.

Abu Islam al-Iraqi was believed to be the mastermind of bombings and abductions at fake checkpoints against Iraqi civilians and security members, the statement said.

During the past few months, hundreds of IS militants fled their former urban strongholds in Mosul, Salahudin Province and Hawijah area in the west of Kirkuk, after Iraqi forces cleared these regions during major anti-IS 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 and individuals of IS militants have since regrouped in rugged areas including Himreen, carrying out attacks against security forces and civilians despite operations from time to time to hunt them down.