18 IS militants killed in airstrike, bomb blast in Iraq's Anbar

A total of 18 Islamic State (IS) militants, including four suicide bombers, were killed on Sunday in U.S.-led coalition airstrike and a suicide car bomb attack in Iraq's western province of Anbar, a provincial security source said.

International warplanes carried out an airstrike on IS positions in south of the IS-held city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, leaving 14 IS militants killed, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The warplanes also destroyed three car bombs and killed their suicide bombers as they were trying to attack the Iraqi security forces in the same area near Fallujah, the source said.

The air attack near Fallujah came as Iraqi security forces allied paramilitary Sunni tribal units have carried out an offensive designed to recapture villages in south of Fallujah aiming at tightening the noose on the extremist militants inside the city.

Meanwhile, five soldiers were killed and eight others wounded, including an officer, when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into their military base and detonated it in Jerieshi area in north of the provincial capital Ramadi, the source added.

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