Iraq's Prime Minister-designate Adel Abdul Mahdi speaks to parliament he announces his new cabinet at the parliament headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq October 24, 2018. Iraqi Parliament Office/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said on Tuesday that hundreds of Iraqi Islamic State militants at Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria were trying to cross into Iraq.

The militants have launched attacks in recent weeks against U.S.-backed Kurdish forces on the Syrian side of the border, prompting Iraqi militias that operate alongside the army to reinforce in the area.

Abdul Mahdi said the militants were seeking to recapture territory they had once controlled on the Iraqi side, during Islamic State’s self-styled caliphate that extended from eastern Syria to northern Iraq from 2014 to 2017.

“But Iraqi forces are carrying out their duties to pre-empt any attempts by Daesh (Islamic State) to infiltrate the border and cross into Iraq,” he told reporters at a news conference.

Islamic State militants have since their military defeat in Iraq in 2017 reverted to insurgency tactics such as bombings and attacks on security forces, especially in northern Nineveh and northeastern Diyala provinces.