IRAQ has hanged 13 prisoners convicted on terror charges following a recommendation by the prime minister to speed up executions of those on death row for terror-related offences.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is facing fresh questions over gaps in security after the bodies of eight policemen and members of a pro-government Shiite militia were found on the side of a road north of Baghdad this week.

The eight were believed to have been abducted by Daesh militants earlier this month.

The 13 prisoners were executed late on Thursday, hours after al-Abadi recommended to President Fuad Masum that he sign execution orders for all terror suspects awaiting capital punishment.

The Justice Ministry said the men had exhausted all possibilities for appeal.

A representative of Iraq’s highest Shiite authority accused politicians of ignoring the lingering threat posed by Daesh despite the fact that the authorities declared victory over the militants last year.

Daesh has been defeated in all major urban centres it held at the height of its power in 2014 in Syria and Iraq, including Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city.

Its self-proclaimed “caliphate” has also been dismantled.

In Iraq, the victory was achieved thanks to the US-backed Iraqi forces and also a predominantly Shiite umbrella of militias known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces.