28 IS militants killed in air strikes in western Iraq

Iraqi security forces on Saturday continued their fighting against the Islamic State (IS) militants in the western Anbar province, while the country's air strikes killed 28 IS militants, including senior leaders, security sources and official television said.

In Anbar province, the security forces and allied militias known as Hashd Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization, moved closer to the IS-held provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, and seized the provincial traffic police headquarters after fierce clashes with the IS militants, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The troops also advanced from another route in south of Ramadi, when they recaptured the village of Albu Jabir, just south of Ramadi after clashes with the IS militants who fled their positions in the village and withdrew towards the city, the source said.

Also in the province, dozens of IS militants and eight suicide car bombs attacked a military base in al-Shiha area near the militant-seized town of Garma, just east of the city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, leaving at least 15 security members and Hashd Shaabi fighters killed and some 22 others wounded, he said.

The troops and allied militiamen managed to repel after heavy clashes with the attackers, killing undetermined number of them, the source said, adding the troops used Kornet anti-tank guided missiles to detonate the suicide car bombs.

In addition, the IS militants pounded the military base of Habbaniyah, some 80 km west of Baghdad, with some 50 mortar rounds, leaving seven security members killed and five others wounded, another security source anonymously told Xinhua.

Meanwhile, Iraqi airstrike, based on reports from the a special intelligence cell named Suqour, pounded a meeting of IS leaders and foreign fighters at a safe house in the town of Qaim, near the border with the Syria, leaving 28 militants killed, the state-run Iraqiya channel quoted a report from the intelligence cell, which is tasked with secret missions against significant targets.

Abu Mohammed al-Souri, IS propaganda film-maker, and Osama al-Amreci, IS photographer, were among the killed, according to the intelligence report.

The clashes and air strikes in Anbar came four days after the Iraqi security forces and allied militias commenced a military offensive aimed at driving out the IS militants from Ramadi, which the extremist militants took full control of it on May 17 after the Iraqi security forces withdrew from their positions.

The security situation in Iraq has drastically deteriorated since last June, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and IS militants. Endit