Iraqi troops repel two IS attacks, 31 killed

Iraqi security forces and allied tribal fighters drove back two attacks by Islamic State (IS) militants to the north and west of capital Baghdad, leaving 31 people dead and 11 injured, security sources said Monday.

Early in the morning, security forces, backed by allied Sunni tribesmen and Iraqi aircraft, repelled a major attack from five directions carried out by IS militants around Sunday midnight on the government compound in the centre of the city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, has been partially seized by the IS militants for months, and they repeatedly tried to expand their presence in the city to include the government compound but failed due to the fierce resistance, the source said.

The seven-hour battle in the city led to the killing of 23 IS militants and the capture of three others, the source added without giving details about the casualties among the troops and the tribesmen.

In Salahudin province, the IS militants late Sunday night captured the town of al-Mu'tasim, 100 km north of Baghdad, after they carried out a coordinated attack by a suicide bomber at a police station in the centre of the town, leaving seven militiamen and a civilian dead and 11 militiamen wounded, a provincial security source told Xinhua.

The huge blast destroyed the station building while dozens of IS militants took over the town's government building and deployed in the town, the source said.

In the morning, reinforcements arrived and after heavy clashes with the militants the troops recaptured the town, the source added, without giving any information about casualties.

The security situation in Iraq begun to drastically deteriorate since June 10, when bloody clashes broke out between the Iraqi security forces and the IS Sunni radical group.