Airstrikes kill 32 IS militants in Iraq

Iraqi airstrikes on Islamic State (IS) positions and hideouts killed 32 extremist militants on Monday, including two IS local leaders, security and medical sources said.

In Iraq's western province of Anbar, Iraqi warplanes carried out an airstrike on a house which was used by IS suicide bombers in Soufiyah district in the eastern part of the provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

A suicide group leader, named Abu Humam, and six IS militants were killed, the source said.

Separately, another airstrike bombarded buildings housing IS militants in the IS-held town of Heet, some 160 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, leaving 15 militants killed and eight others wounded, a medical source from the town's hospital told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Also in the province, four IS militants were killed in artillery shelling by Iraqi army on an IS checkpoint in Huseiba al-Sharqiyah area, some 10 km east of Ramadi, the security source said.

The security forces captured downtown Ramadi from the IS on Dec. 28, but some small parts of the city has not yet been fully secured due to a large numbers of bombs planted by the IS.

For months, the troops have been fighting to retake control of key cities and towns in Anbar, the Iraq's largest province, from IS militants who previously seized most of Anbar and tried to advance toward Baghdad.

In Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, an army helicopter gunship bombed three IS vehicles in the desert area of Liyn, in west of the city of Samarra, some 120 km north of Baghdad, killing Abu Abdul-Aziz, head of IS intelligence in the province, and five of his aides, a provincial security source told Xinhua.

A recent UN report estimated that more than 7,500 people have been killed and 14,800 injured in 2015 due to the armed conflict in Iraq. Endit