The desert region in central Iraq has witnessed a resurgence in ISIS attacks, as evidenced by the discovery of the corpses of seven shepherds and farmers who were murdered by the terrorist group. In a renewed threat to the region, ISIS attacked several remote villages and seized 30 locals from their homes, Ali al-Nawaf, a municipal council chief, told AFP. "The bodies of seven of them have been found and security forces are searching for the others," he said. The victims, in pictures posted on social media, were discovered with their hands tied behind their backs and eyes bound with red-and-white keffiyeh headscarves. "This area used to be quite well-populated but it has emptied because its become very dangerous for residents, who live off agriculture or as shepherds," said Nawaf. He said residents could not defend themselves because their weapons had been confiscated, first by US-led forces which invaded Iraq in 2003, by ISIS from 2014 and then again by Iraqi security forces and their paramilitary allies. The Shammar tribe to which the local residents belong was targeted by ISIS for having sided with the government in its battle with the extremists, who were expelled from their last urban strongholds last year. Despite the governments declaration last December of victory over ISIS, the terrorists have continued to carry out attacks in remote desert areas. "There are sleeper cells in the Hatra region and the thousands of square kilometers of Jazira," the vast desert stretching from the west of Baghdad right up to the Syrian border, said Haytham al-Shammar, a tribal leader. He said the extremists were also infiltrating from Albu Kamal, a Syrian border town which the Damascus regime recaptured from ISIS earlier this month. According to Nawaf, the extremists have become emboldened in recent weeks, operating in daytime, not only at night, and travelling in larger road convoys. "Now there are incidents every day," he said. On Monday, ISIS killed three truck drivers in an attack on the highway linking Baghdad to oil-rich Kirkuk in the north, security sources said.