“ISIL gunmen abducted six civilians on Tuesday in the Maftoul area near Saladin province,” Habib al-Shammari, a police captain in the neighboring Diyala province said. 

Al-Shammari went on to say that Iraqi army forces had conducted a “major security operation” on Maftoul’s outskirts where they had found the abductees tied up inside an abandoned building. 

The terrorists, the police officer added, had fled the area before the arrival of security forces.

Last December, Iraqi officials declared that ISIL's military presence in Iraq had been all but dismantled.

It appears the notorious terrorist group, however, still maintains "sleeper cells" in certain parts of the country, including Saladin and Diyala provinces.