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40 killed in clashes, air strikes against IS in Iraq

Xinhua, July 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Up to 40 people were killed on Thursday in clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants and air strikes by Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition aircraft in the Iraqi provinces of Anbar and Salahudin, a government statement and provincial security sources said.

In the western province of Anbar, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden truck near the security forces and allied militias known as Hashd Shaabi, or popular mobilization, in Haiyakil area, just south of the IS-held city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, leaving at least seven security members and militiamen killed and nine others wounded, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Separately, the security forces and Hashd Shaabi militias fought fierce clashes with the IS militants in areas located in northwest of Baghdad near the IS-held town of Garma, some 40 km west of Baghdad, killing 14 militants along with destroying some of their positions and a vehicle carrying heavy machine gun, said a statement from Baghdad Operations Command (B.O.C.).

The battles in northwest of Baghdad are part of an offensive led by Baghdad command designed to drive out the extremist militants who from time to time approach to Baghdad from the areas located in east of the militants-seized town of Garma.

Meanwhile, international warplanes carried out an air strike on an IS position near Garma, leaving at least 10 militants killed, a provincial security source said citing intelligence report.

Also in the province, an Iraqi Sukhoi Su-25 jet pounded a building said to be a bomb factory in the industrial district in Fallujah, destroying the building and killing six extremist militants, the source added.

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

In Salauhdin province, a heavy clash erupted in the morning when IS militants attacked positions of federal police in Laiyn area in west of the city of Samarra, some 120 km north of Baghdad, leaving three policemen and wounding seven others, a provincial security source told Xinhua without giving further details about casualties among the extremist militants.

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