Over 100 killed in air strikes, clashes with IS militants in Iraq

Up to 62 Islamic State (IS) militants and 48 security members were killed on Saturday in U.S.-led coalition air strikes, four suicide bomb attacks and clashes with Iraqi security forces, security sources said.

In Iraq's western province of Anbar, three suicide bombers drove their booby-trapped vehicles into bases of Iraqi federal police and detonated them in Kilo 70 area in west of the provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, leaving some 43 policemen killed and destroying five police vehicles, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a military base and blew it up in Tal Msheheidah area, just east of Ramadi, killing five security members and wounding 11 others, along with destroying two military vehicles, the source said.

Separately, U.S.-led coalition aircraft carried out air strikes on IS positions in the desert area in north of Ramadi, leaving at least 53 IS militants killed, the source added without giving further details.

Security forces and paramilitary Sunni tribal units captured downtown Ramadi from IS control on Dec. 28, raising the Iraqi flag on the government complex there, but small parts of the city has not yet been fully secured due to a large numbers of bombs planted by the IS and because the troops wanted to avoid casualties among civilians.

In Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, Iraqi security forces repelled IS attacks on al-Fat'ha area, some 40 km north the provincial capital city of Tikrit, when dozens of the extremist militants at dawn attacked the nearby power station after they crossed Tigris River by boats, while dozens others attacked al-Fat'ha area through its main road, a provincial security source anonymously told Xinhua.

The fierce clashes between the two sides resulted in the killing of at least nine IS militants, the source said without giving further details.

The predominated Sunni Arab province of Salahudin has been the scene of a major offensive by Iraqi security forces and allied paramilitary units, known as Hashd Shaabi, which managed to retake control of key towns of the province from the hands of IS militants, except for the northern areas of the province, including the town of Shirqat, some 280 km north of Baghdad.

Iraq is currently witnessing a wave of violence since the IS terrorist group took control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions since June 2014. Endit