Also in the day, an Iraqi army and police force from Salahudin Province, backed by helicopter gunships, rescued two Iraqi journalists and two police officers, who were surrounded by the extremist militants at a compound in the village of Imam Gharbi with some security members, a security source from Salahudin told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Earlier in the day, the source said the reporter Su'dad Faris and the photographer Harb Hazza, who work for Huna Salahudin satellite channel, were killed in Imam Gharbi village near the town of Shirqat, some 280 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

The two journalists were covering clashes of the Iraqi forces who were fighting to free the village which IS militants took control of the day before.

The troops freed the besieged group in the village, and are still fighting to dislodge the extremist militants holed up in the village, the source said.

Imam Gharbi village was freed from IS during the troops advance earlier this year, but dozens of militants came from the desert area early on Thursday and took control of it, the source said.

The Iraqi Journalists' Syndicate said in a report that up to 14 Iraqi journalists were killed in 2016, and more than 455 journalists have been killed in the country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Iraq is considered one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, who have been frequently targeted since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Iraqi former leader Saddam Hussein.

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