28 IS militants killed in Iraq airstrikes

Iraqi security forces on Saturday continued their battles against Islamic State (IS) militants in the western Anbar province, while air strikes killed 28 IS militants, including senior leaders, security sources and official television said.

In Anbar province, the security forces and allied militias known as Hashd Shaabi, moved closer to the IS-held provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, and seized the provincial traffic police headquarters after fierce clashes with IS militants, a source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The troops also advanced from another route south of Ramadi when they recaptured the village of Albu Jabir, just south of Ramadi after clashes with IS militants who fled their positions in the village and withdrew towards the city, the source said.

Also in the province, dozens of IS militants attacked a military base in al-Shiha area near the militant-seized town of Garma, just east of the city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, leaving at least 15 security members and Hashd Shaabi fighters dead and some 22 wounded, he said.

Meanwhile, Iraqi airstrikes, according to reports from a special intelligence cell named Suqour, pounded a meeting of IS leaders and foreign fighters at a safe house in the town of Qaim, near the border with Syria, leaving 28 militants dead, the state-run Iraqiya channel quoted a report from the intelligence cell.

Abu Mohammed al-Souri, IS propaganda film-maker, and Osama al-Amreci, IS photographer, were among those killed, according to the intelligence report.