BAQUBA, Iraq, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Six paramilitary Hashd Shaabi fighters were killed Monday in an attack by Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a local official said.

The incident occurred in the morning when IS militants carried out surprise attack on a Hashd Shaabi base near Himreen Lake, some 60 km northeast of the provincial capital Baquba, according to Adnan al-Timimi, head of the town council of the nearby town of Maqdadiyah.

The attack sparked fierce clash resulted in the killing of six Hashd Shaabi fighters before the attackers withdrew the scene, Timimi told Xinhua.

Later in the day, a joint police and army forces carried out a search operation in the nearby villages looking for the attackers, Timimi said.

Despite repeated military operations in Diyala province, remnants of IS militants were still hiding in rugged areas near the border with Iran in eastern Diyala, as well as the sprawling areas extending from western part of the province to Himreen mountainous area.

The militants are still capable of carrying out attacks against civilians and the security forces despite operations from time to time to hunt them down.