BAGHDAD, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Five paramilitary Sunni tribal fighters battling the Islamic State (IS) extremists, and a journalist were killed on Tuesday in a suicide attack targeting their base in Iraq's central province of Salahudin, a provincial police source said.

A suicide bomber blew up his explosive belt at an outpost manned by the anti-IS fighters at a village near the city of Shirqat, some 280 km north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, killing five of the fighters and a journalist who was covering their activities, Mohammed al-Jubouri told Xinhua.

Up to 30 paramilitary fighters were wounded by the blast, including Adnan al-Ghannam, a former member of parliament, Jubouri said, adding that some of the wounded are in critical conditions.

The attack came at the beginning of the four-day holiday of Eid al-Adha festival, also known as the Feast of the Sacrifice, which marks the spiritual peak of the annual pilgrimage.

The security situation in Iraq has been dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces fully defeated the IS militants across the country late in 2017.

However, small groups and individuals of extremist militants melted or regrouped in urban and rugged areas, and are carrying out attacks against the security forces and civilians despite operations from time to time to hunt them down.