Iraqi forces attack IS-held towns

Iraqi security forces attacked two towns held by the Sunni radical group Islamic State (IS) in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala Sunday, police said.

Security forces backed by Shia militias and aircrafts, tried to enter the militants-seized town of Saadiyah, some 120 km northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, from three directions and gained a foothold in several district on the edges of the town, Xinhua quoted provincial police chief Lieutenant General Jamil al-Shimary as saying.

Earlier in the morning, the troops recaptured six villages in the rural area east of the Saadiyah, killing at least 10 militants and destroying three of their vehicles, al-Shimary said.

Meanwhile, a suicide bomber blew up an explosives-laden car in a crowd of security forces and Shia militiamen near Saadiyah, killing two security members and two militiamen, while six security members and four militiamen were wounded, a security source said.

Also in the province, Kurdish security forces, known as Peshmerga, carried out a major attack Sunday on the militants-seized town of Jalawlaa, about 130 km northeast of Baghdad.

The Kurdish fighters managed to establish footholds in three districts.

The Peshmerga forces also cleared an army base near Jalawlaa, which was seized earlier by the IS group, after clashes with the extremist militants. The base was previously known as Camp Cobra, which was used by US forces as forward operating base.

At least seven IS militants were killed in the base, including a would-be suicide bomber, and three vehicles were destroyed, including a booby-trapped one, the source said.

The security situation in Iraq began to drastically deteriorate June 10, when bloody clashes broke out between the Iraqi security forces and the IS group, an Al Qaeda offshoot, which took control of the country's northern province of Nineveh and later seized swathes of territories after Iraqi security forces abandoned their posts in other predominantly Sunni provinces.