By Hussein al-Amir

BAGHDAD

The Daesh terrorist group executed three brothers in Iraq’s Saladin province north of Baghdad one day after abducting them, a local security source said Friday.

“Security forces found the bodies of three brothers who were abducted yesterday [Thursday] by Daesh militants near Saladin’s village of Al-Mesk,” Police Lieutenant Numan al-Jubouri told Anadolu Agency.

The bodies, he added, bore “multiple gunshot wounds”.

In the summer of 2014, the notorious terrorist group overran much of northern and western Iraq, including Mosul, the country’s second-largest city.

In late 2017, the Iraqi army -- backed by a U.S.-led coalition -- retook Mosul, leading officials in Baghdad to declare that Daesh’s military presence in the country had been all but destroyed.

Nevertheless, the army continues to carry out sporadic operations with the ostensible aim of eliminating the group’s lingering presence in certain parts of the country.