The five men, all Iraqi, were executed in the Nasiriyah prison in Dhi Qar province, the only one in Iraq that carries out capital punishment, the security sources told AFP.

Since declaring the Islamic State defeated in late 2017, Iraq has condemned hundreds of its own citizens to death for membership of the jihadist group.

But only a small proportion of the sentences have been carried out, as they must be approved by the country's president, currently Barham Saleh, who is known to be against capital punishment on a personal level.

Last month, Iraqi authorities revealed that they had more than 340 execution orders "for terrorism or criminal acts" that were ready to be carried out.

A presidential source told AFP that a majority of those approvals dated back to before Saleh became president.