Iraqi forces kill 43 IS militants in attacks south of Mosul

Iraqi security forces on Saturday repelled attacks of Islamic State (IS) militants in south of Mosul, killing 43 IS militants and capturing 11 others, security sources said.

In one attack, some 200 IS militants overnight attacked security forces near the town of Qayyara after they crossed the Tigris River with boats from an IS-held areas in the eastern side of the river, Mohammed al-Baiyati, head of the security committee of Nineveh's provincial council, said in a statement.

The security forces and allied Sunni paramilitary tribal fighters fought heavy clashes with the attackers over the night until the early morning when a federal police force arrived the scene and drove out the extremist militants, leaving some 40 IS militants killed and 11 others captured, Baiyati said.

Three policemen, including an officer, were also killed in the battles, the source added.

In a separate incident, five Sunni tribal fighters were killed in an ambush by IS militants near the town of Shirqat, some 280 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a local security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Afterwards, the tribal fighters chased the IS militants and killed three of them after a clash, and continued searching for other militants in the vast area in west of Shirqat, the source said.

The attacks came after a month of a massive offensive to dislodge the extremist militants the city of Mosul, which represents their last major stronghold in Iraq.

On Oct. 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city.

Mosul, some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions. Endit