Iraqi warplanes kill 3 Islamic State militants in Anbar

Anbar (IraqiNews.com) – Three Islamic State militants were killed Saturday in an air raid by the Iraqi Air Force on a terrorist hotbed in Anbar, a security source from the province’s operations command was quoted as saying.

Speaking to the privately-owned Almaalomah news agency, the source pointed out that Iraqi warplanes targeted three Islamic State militants riding two motorbikes and trying to sneak into Wadi al-Shaib, which leads to al-Kasrat area, west of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province.

“The three terrorists were killed and their motorbikes were destroyed in the airstrike,” the source said, adding that a large cache of weapons were found at the scene.

Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence in November 2017 with the recapture of Rawa, a city on Anbar’s western borders with Syria, which was the group’s last bastion in Iraq.

IS had declared a self-styled “caliphate” in a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in 2014. A government campaign, backed by a U.S.-led international coalition and paramilitary forces, was launched in 2016 to retake IS-held regions, managing to retake all havens, most notably the city of Mosul, the group’s previously proclaimed capital.