BAGHDAD, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Security forces in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala carried out a major operation to hunt Islamic State (IS) militants, an Iraqi newspaper said on Thursday.

The operation was designed to prevent the extremist IS militants from launching surprise attacks against security forces and civilians, the independent newspaper of al-Mashriq said.

"Iraqi forces backed by Iraqi aircrafts pushed in five routes to pursue IS militants in three areas of Udhiem, Amerli and Tuz-Khurmato near the provincial border with neighboring Salahudin province," said the newspaper quoting Mizher al-Azzawi, commander of Diyala Operations Command.

Azzawi said that the troops combed large rugged areas looking for IS hideouts based on accurate intelligence reports, according to the newspaper.

Mohammed al-Zuhairy, a captain of the command, told the newspaper "the operation which was launched Wednesday will not be limited to the areas in Diyala but it will reach to neighboring Salahudin in coordination with its operations command and Hashd Shaabi units."

The operation came four days after similar military operation launched last Saturday to track IS in the desert area which extends in the provinces of Nineveh, Salahudin and Anbar north and west of Iraq, al-Zuhairy said.

Despite repeated military operations in the Diyala province, remnants of IS militants are still hiding in some rugged areas near the border with Iran, and in the sprawling areas extending from the western part of the province to the Himreen mountainous area in north of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

On Dec. 9, 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi officially declared full liberation of Iraq from the IS extremist group.

However, small groups of IS militants have since regrouped in rugged areas, carrying out attacks against security forces and civilians despite the military operations from time to time to hunt them down.