31 killed in air strikes, bomb attacks in Iraq

Up to 31 people were killed and 34 others wounded on Monday in bomb attacks and air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi aircraft targeting Islamic State (IS) militants across the country's western province of Anbar, a provincial security source said.

In one air strike, 15 IS militants were killed and nine others injured when international warplanes bombarded the phosphate facility near the town of Qaim on the Iraqi-Syrian border, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, four security members were killed and eight others wounded in rocket barrage by IS militants on the compound of Anbar University near the IS-held provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, the source added.

Separately, a roadside bomb struck a federal police patrol in Ennaz area near the militant-seized city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, leaving three policemen killed and three others wounded, the source said.

Also in the province, five government-backed Sunni tribal fighters were killed and seven others wounded in a heavy clash with IS militants near a dam close to the city of Haditha, some 200 km northwest of Baghdad, he added.

The IS group has seized most of Anbar province and tried to advance towards Baghdad during the past few months, but several counter attacks by security forces and Shiite militias have pushed them back.

Earlier in the day, a provincial security source reportedly said that international aircraft carried out an air strike on an IS position in Doulab area in west of the IS-held city of Heet, some 160 km west of Baghdad, leaving four IS militants killed and seven others wounded.

The security situation in Iraq has drastically deteriorated since June 10, 2014, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and IS militants. Endit