28 IS militants killed in airstrikes, clashes in Iraq

At least 28 Islamic State (IS) militants were killed on Monday in the US-led coalition airstrikes and clashes with Iraqi security forces in the province of Anbar, a provincial security source said.

At least 20 IS militants were killed and dozens of others wounded when the international coalition warplanes pounded a bomb-making factory in the IS-held provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua news agency.

Separately, heavy clashes erupted between IS militants and the Iraqi forces backed by allied Shia and Sunni militias, known as Hashd Shaabi (Popular Mobilization), east of the militant-held town of Garma, some 50 km west of Baghdad, leaving five extremist militants dead, and a booby-trapped shovel truck was blown up, the source said.

In addition, at least three IS militants were killed and five others wounded in artillery shelling by the Iraqi army on a youth centre used as a base for the extremist militants in the central part of the IS-held city of Fallujah, the source added.

The IS has seized most of Anbar province and tried to advance towards Baghdad during the past few months, but was repelled by the security forces and the Hashd Shaabi.

The security situation in Iraq has drastically deteriorated since June 2014, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and the IS.