A report said that two Saudi nationals were among Takfiri militants killed in clashes with Iraqi army in the holy city of Samarra.

A report said that two Saudi nationals were among Takfiri militants killed in clashes with Iraqi army in the holy city of Samarra.

Sabq online newspaper reported on Sunday that the killed militants were two brothers, Yahya and Ibrahim, 25 and 21.

On Thursday, heavily armed militants from the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) entered the holy city from several directions. They used bulldozers to destroy a number of holy shrines there, but faced counterattacks from the Iraqi army.

The father of the two Saudi militants said in an interview with the Saudi newspaper that he received an overseas phone call informing him of the deaths of his sons.

The father noted that their sons went to Syria to fight the Syrian government forces two months ago, before going to Iraq.

Iraq's elite counter-terrorism forces backed by helicopters launched a massive operation later on Thursday and drove the militants out of Samarra.

"We were able to kill 80 (militants) in strikes and attacks and clashes, from house to house and one street to another," AFP quoted Staff Lieutenant General Sabah al-Fatlawi as saying on Thursday night.

Iraq has been witnessing a wave of unprecedented violent attacks in recent years. The attacks have been carried out by Takfiri militants.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki repeatedly accused Saudi Arabia of being responsible for the security crisis and growing terrorism in his country, denouncing the Al Saud regime as a major supporter of global terrorism.