10 IS militants killed in air strike, gunfire in Iraq

Baghdad, Aug 13 (IANS) A total of ten Islamic State (IS) militants were killed in an air strike by U.S.-led coalition aircraft and clashes with Iraqi security forces in western Iraq, the Iraqi military said.

The Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) carried out a raid in coordination with the international coalition aircraft on Monday, which conducted an air strike on IS hideouts in the desert of Iraq’s western province of Anbar, the CTS said in a statement, Xinhua reported.

Afterwards, the airborne CTS troops conducted airdrop operation on the bombed site and clashed with the extremist militants, leaving eight of them killed, the statement said.

Later on, the troops searched the hideouts and found two would-be suicide bombers wearing explosive belts, killing one of them, while the other blew himself up without causing casualties among the troops, the statement added.

The security situation in Iraq was dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces fully defeated the extremist IS militants across the country late in 2017.

IS remnants, however, have since melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas as safe havens, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians.

–IANS
rt/