The Islamic State group has been reluctant to use humans to carry bombs because of the group’s reduced numbers, so it has tried out a new tactic: Bovine suicide bombers.

Residents of Al Islah, Iraq, on Saturday said they had witnessed “a strange” sight: two cows harnessed to explosive vests roving the northern side of the village, according to Col. Ghalib Al-Atyia, the spokesman for the police commander in Diyala province.

The animals wandered into the outskirts of the community, and when they seemed close to houses, the bombs were detonated remotely, killing the cows, and damaging nearby houses, but not harming any people, Al-Atyia said.

In the colonel’s assessment, the attack signaled that the Islamic State group, whose ranks were sharply reduced by the group’s four-year fight against Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. special forces, was resorting to unconventional methods since they lacked manpower.

Still, using cows to deliver bombs is an odd strategy in Iraq, where the animals are prized both for meat and milk. A cow can easily cost $1,200 or more, and no one in the area could remember ever seeing a cow sent to its death in such a way, said several witnesses.

The cows were contributed to the Islamic State group by villages in the area thought to be friendly to their cause, said security officials in the Diyala Police Command.

Al-Atyia described the attack as serving several purposes for the Islamic State, the main one to signal the group’s continued presence in the area. Attaching the bombs to the cows and sending them into the village meant the Islamic State operatives got close enough to release the cows near its entrance without being caught and were able to stay close enough to detonate the bombs, he said.

It also shows the group’s interest in intimidating areas they may want to access in the future, he said. This area is close to main roads leading to neighboring provinces.

“The Islamic State will keep trying to breach those areas that they consider strategic for movement,” Al-Atyia said.

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