27 killed in air strikes, bomb attacks in Iraq

At least 27 people were killed and 27 wounded on Monday in bomb attacks and air strikes by the US-led coalition and Iraqi aircraft targeting Islamic State (IS) militants across the country's western province of Anbar, a provincial security source said.

In one air strike, 15 IS militants were killed and nine injured when warplanes bombarded the phosphate facility near the town of Qaim on the Iraqi-Syrian border, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, four security members were killed and eight wounded in a rocket barrage by IS militants on the compound of Anbar University near the IS-held provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, the source added.

Separately, a roadside bomb struck on a federal police patrol in Ennaz area near the militant-seized city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, killed three policemen and injured three, the source said.

Also in the province, five government-backed Sunni tribal fighters were killed and seven wounded in a clash with IS militants near a dam close to the city of Haditha, some 200 km northwest of Baghdad, he added.

The IS group has seized most of Anbar province and tried to advance towards Baghdad during the past few months, but several counter attacks by security forces and Shiite militias have pushed them back.