38 IS militants killed in clashes, air strikes in Iraq

A total of 38 Islamic State (IS) militants were killed on Thursday in airstrikes by international aircraft and in clashes with security forces in Ramadi, security sources said.

Government troops and allied paramilitary units retook control of Palestine Bridge in the western part of Anbar's provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, after heavy clashes with IS militants, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi aircraft participated in the battles that left at least 13 militants killed, the source said.

Also on Thursday, international aircraft carried out airstrikes on two IS positions in Jubba area in east of the town of Haditha, some 200 km northwest of Baghdad, killing 12 IS militants, the source added.

The military operations 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 IS militants, which seized most of Anbar and tried to advance toward Baghdad.

Elsewhere, international aircraft bombed a convoy of IS vehicles near the town of Badosh west Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, destroying at least five vehicles and killing 13 militants on board, a security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Ali Hassan al-Afri, the leader of the extremist group in the nearby IS-held town of Tal Afar, and four of his aides were among the dead, the source said. Endit