27 IS militants killed in Iraq airstrikes

Baghdad: At least 27 Islamic State militants were killed in airstrikes by international coalition against IS posts in the IS-held areas in Iraq’s western province of Anbar on Sunday, an Iraqi army source said.

According to intelligence reports, the US-led coalition aircraft conducted an airstrike on an internet cafe used by IS militants as a headquarters in the town of al-Qaim near the border with Syria, leaving some 20 of them killed, Nouman al-Zoubaie, commander of the army’s 7th Division, told Xinhua.

Another airstrike destroyed an IS post in the city of Aana killing six militants, Zoubaie said.

In addition, an international airstrike bombed a booby-trapped vehicle and killed its driver, he added.

In a separate incident, a booby-trapped car detonated at a busy intersection in Karrada district in central Baghdad, leaving a civilian killed and five others wounded, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The airstrikes in western Iraq and Baghdad car bombing came as the Iraqi security forces, backed by anti-IS international coalition, are carrying out a major offensive to drive out IS militants from their major stronghold in the western side of Mosul in northern Iraq.

IANS