Isis fighters 'blown up by their own landmine' in Iraq, claim Kurdish fighters

Two militants were reportedly killed in an explosion near Makhmour

Isis militants have been killed by their own roadside bomb in Iraq, Kurdish fighters have claimed.

A convoy of fighters from the so-called Islamic State were reportedly travelling near the northern town of Makhmour when one of their vehicles was blown up on Thursday.

Ali Hussain, a Peshmerga commander in the region, told Kurdish news agency Rudaw: “A mine had been planted by Isis troops in previous battles in the village of Kharbadan to target the Peshmerga (but) the vice versa happened, killing two of the group’s local leaders on the front.

“One of the slain emirs (leaders) was the group’s administrator in the area named Abu Malik, and the other one named Abu Abdul-aziz.”

The report could not be independently verified.

Makhmour, between Isis’ Iraqi stronghold of Mosul and the city of Erbil, capital or Iraqi Kurdistan, has been one of several frontlines since the extremist group’s insurgency began last summer.

Its use of mines has been documented in Syria, where observers reported militants laying bombs around the ancient city of Palmyra last month.

Isis continues to fight Kurds, Syrian and Iraqi troops, the US-led international air coalition and militias in its bloody campaign to establish an Islamist caliphate in the region.