Islamic State (IS) have committed a third public, mass killing against one tribe just days after the previous two, when they lined up and shot dead at least 50 Iraqis, including women and children.
The attack on Sunday against Al Bu Nimr tribe comes after the Islamists killed another 50 members of its members late Friday and 48 on Thursday.
The killings, all committed in public, target a Sunni tribe the Islamic State group now apparently views as a threat, though previously some Sunnis backed the advance of IS, also known as Isis or Isil, into Iraq earlier this year, their anger and alienation fuelled by the Shia-majority Malaki government of the country.
Islamic State publicly killed men, women and children in the mass shooting
Sunday's attack took place in the village of Ras al-Maa, north of Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar.
There, the militant group killed at least 40 men, six women and four children, lining them up and publicly killing them one by one, according to Sheikh Naim al-Gaoud, a senior tribesman.
The militants also kidnapped another 17 people, he said.
The militant Islamist group has overrun a large part of Anbar province in its push to expand its territory across Iraq and Syria.
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The Iraqi government, as well as officials with the U.S.-led coalition targeting the extremists, repeatedly have said that Iraqi tribes are key elements in the fight against the IS group since they are able to penetrate areas inaccessible to airstrikes and ground forces.
However, some Sunnis in Anbar supported militants — including the Sunni militants of IS — when they seized Fallujah and parts of Ramadi in December.
Since the IS group's major offensive in Iraq, a number of Iraq's Sunni tribes have been fundamental in stalling its advance, taking up arms and fighting alongside Iraqi security forces.
The latest news follows a new low for IS, when it published a graphic image that showed a young boy being made to kick a severed head like a football.