Iraqi forces free 4 villages in Anbar, 30 IS militants killed

Iraqi security forces on Wednesday freed four villages from Islamic State (IS) militants near the IS-held city of Fallujah in the western province of Anbar, but the militants blew up two oil wells in northern Iraq, security sources and an oil official said.

The troops and allied paramilitary Sunni tribal units, backed by U.S.-led coalition aircraft, advanced in south of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, and recaptured the villages.

The fierce clashes left some 30 IS militants killed and five vehicles destroyed, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The battle south of Fallujah is part of a major offensive to tighten siege of the city in an attempt to drive out the extremist militants, the source said.

In Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, a police commando officer and two policemen were killed and three others wounded when a booby-trapped house was detonated at a village near the provincial capital city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Separately, unidentified gunmen blew up two oil wells in Khubbaz oilfield in southwest of the city of Kirkuk, some 250 km north of Baghdad, an official from the state-run North Oil Company (NOC) told Xinhua.

Iraqi security forces and allied paramilitary units have been battling IS militants for re-control of large territories in northern and western Iraq that was seized by the IS since June 2014. Endit