28 killed in battles against IS militants in Iraq, as reinforcement arrives near Ramadi

A total of 28 people were killed on Tuesday in clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants in northern and central Iraq, while reinforcement troops arrived near the IS-held city of Ramadi as the final attack to free the city from the extremist militants looms, security sources said.

In northern Iraq, dozens of IS militants benefited from bad weather and attacked the town of Makhmour, some 50 km southeast of the militant-seized city of Mosul, but the Kurdish security forces, known as Peshmerga, repelled the attack which left at least eight IS militants killed and five others wounded, while five Peshmerga members were also wounded in the clash, a Kurdish security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

In Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, fierce clashes erupted in the morning when IS militants attacked the security forces and allied paramilitary units, known as Hashd Shaabi, at a base located just east of the provincial capital city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, a provincial security source anonymously told Xinhua.

The battle resulted in the killing of one Hashd Shaabi member and the wounding of two others, the source said, adding that dozens of IS militants were also killed and wounded.

The extremist militants frequently use the vast desert in west of Tikrit to carry out attacks on Salahudin's major cities and towns near the Tigris River, including Tikrit and Samarra.

In Iraq's western province of Anbar, reinforcement troops, tanks, armored vehicles and artillery units arrived in the town of Khaldiyah, some 80 km west of Baghdad, as the major battle to liberate the nearby provincial capital city of Ramadi from IS militants seems imminent, a provincial security source told Xinhua.

During the past few weeks, the troops fought fierce clashes with IS militants and managed to surround the city Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, after seizing areas at the edges of the city.

Ali Dawood, head of the town hall of Khaldiyah, told reporters that dozens of families have left their homes in the besieged city of Ramadi, using the safe routes assigned earlier by the security forces, fleeing the imminent battles in the city.

"Dozens of men, women, children and elderly crossed the safe routes around Ramadi rising white flags, and were allowed to leave to safer places after the troops checked their identification cards," Dawood said.

The exodus of civilians from Ramadi came after the Iraqi authorities demand the remaining civilians to leave their homes for safer areas as the battles are looming to clear the towns in the province from the extremist militants.

The departure of the civilians also came a day after the Iraqi aircraft dropped thousands of leaflets on the city and several major IS-held towns in the province such as Fallujah, Heet and Qaim near the border with Syria, urging the people to cooperate with the security forces by listening to a special radio station and to send information about the extremist militants in their towns.

Meanwhile, at least seven IS militants were killed when heavy clashes erupted near the IS-held town of Garma, some 40 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the security source said.

In addition, 12 IS militants were killed in an air strike by international warplanes on Sajariyah area, just east of Ramadi, the source said citing intelligence report.

The attacks in Anbar province came as Iraqi security forces and allied militias have been fighting for months to retake control of key cities and towns in Iraq's largest province from the extremist IS militants, which seized most of Anbar and tried to advance toward Baghdad. Enditem