Security forces repel IS suicide bomb attacks in Iraq

Iraqi security forces on Sunday repelled attacks by Islamic State (IS) militants backed by suicide bombings targeting Iraqi security forces in the Iraqi provinces of Anbar and Salahudin, security sources said.

In Iraq's western province of Anbar, soldiers, policemen and local Sunni tribal fighters backed by Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition aircraft repelled major attacks by dozens of IS militants and heavy mortar barrage on the areas of Barwana and Khasfa near the town of Haditha, some 200 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, after heavy clashes that erupted in the early hours of the day, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The attackers pushed seven suicide car bombs to the positions of the security forces, but the troops destroyed three of them by anti-tank missiles before they reach to their targets while four car bombs were also destroyed but close to the troops' positions, leaving 15 security members killed and 22 others wounded, the source said.

Iraqi and international aircraft participated in the battle and destroyed a number of IS vehicles, including more suicide car bombs, in the open area before reaching the battlefield, the source added.

Meanwhile, IS militants carried out another attack on Iraqi army positions near Tharthar Lake in the desert area in north of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, and detonated three suicide car bombs at the scene, but the attackers failed to seize the military positions after heavy clashes with the soldiers, the source said

The battle resulted in the killing of some 15 soldiers and the wounding of 12 others, while the dozens of IS militants were also killed and wounded, the source added.

Also in the province, international warplanes bombarded IS positions in Albu-Eitha area in northeast of the city of Ramadi and Falahat in east of the city, leaving at least 21 IS militants killed, the source said citing intelligence reports.

During the day, Iraqi forces and explosive experts continued defusing dozens of landmines and booby-trapped vehicles and buildings in Ramadi.

Last Monday, the Iraqi security forces announced the liberation of Ramadi after the troops raised the Iraqi flag on the government complex in central the city, but other parts of the city has not yet been fully secured by large number of bombs planted earlier by IS who many of them either withdrew to rural areas outside Ramadi or redeployed in the eastern part of the city.

In Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, a provincial security source told Xinhua earlier in the day that at least 13 would-be policemen were killed and 15 others wounded when three suicide bombers late on Saturday night entered a police training center in a military airbase, known as Camp Speicher, in north of Salahudin's provincial capital city of Tikrit, and detonated their explosive belts inside.

The attacked center is housing trainees from Iraq's northern province of Nineveh who are being prepared for expected battles to free the provincial capital city of Mosul from the extremist militants by Iraqi security forces and international air support.

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