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42 killed in attacks, clashes with IS militants in Iraq's Anbar

Xinhua, August 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

A total of 42 people were killed on Sunday in a suicide truck bombing and clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq's western province of Anbar, a provincial security source said.

In one attack, 15 soldiers and members of allied militias known as Hashd Shaabi, or popular mobilization, were killed and eight others wounded when a suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden military truck into military positions at the Technical Institute in Saqlawiyah area, just north of the IS-held city of Fallujah, which itself located some 50 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Fierce clashes immediately followed the huge blast which also destroyed six military vehicles and damaged parts of the institute building, the source said without giving details about the casualty among the IS militants.

Meanwhile, four IS militants were killed and seven others injured in artillery shelling by the army on IS positions in the areas of Saqlawiyah and Mukhtar near Fallujah, the source said.

Moreover, IS militants pounded a military position in east of Fallujah, killing three soldiers and wounding three others and two Hashd Shaabi militiamen, the source added.

Also in the province, Iraqi security forces and Hashd Shaabi militiamen at dawn advanced toward the southern part of the provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, after heavy clashes with the IS militants which left at least 20 extremist militants killed, the source said.

The troops and allied militias managed to recapture the village of Hemeirah, just south of Ramadi, and seized new positions at the edge of Ramadi's southern district of Mal'ab, the source added.

On July 13, the Iraqi authorities announced the start of a major offensive against IS militants to free key cities and towns in the largest province of Anbar province from IS militants.

Iraqi security forces and allied Hashd Shaabi paramilitary militias have been fighting for months to retake control of key cities and towns in Iraq's largest province of Anbar since the IS militants seized most of it and tried to advance toward capital Baghdad, but several counter attacks by security forces and Shiite militias have pushed them back. Endit