Iraqi security forces on Tuesday found two bodies of Kuwaiti and Saudi tourists who were killed in a roadside bomb explosion in a desert in western Iraq, the Iraqi military said.

One Saudi citizen and one Kuwaiti citizen, who entered Iraq with a tourist visa, went missing in the vast desert that extends across the three provinces of Anbar, Salahudin, and Nineveh, according to a statement issued by the Security Media Cell, a media outlet affiliated with the Iraqi Joint Operations Command.

Iraqi security forces conducted a large-scale search in the Anbar desert looking for the missing tourists, and found their burned bodies, the statement said.

It was suspected that they were killed after their vehicle was hit by an old roadside bomb left behind by the terrorist group Islamic State (IS), the statement added.

Meanwhile, a security source from Anbar province told Xinhua that the Kuwaiti and Saudi citizens were on a hunting trip in the desert, which is not completely safe due to IS militants' activities.

The security situation in Iraq has improved since the defeat of the IS in 2017. However, IS remnants have melted into urban centers, deserts, and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians.

(With UNI inputs)