BAGHDAD, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Eight Islamic State (IS) militants were killed on Monday in an international coalition airstrike on their hideout in Iraq's western province of Anbar, Iraqi Ministry of Defense said.
In coordination with Iraq's joint operations command, U.S.-led coalition fighter jets pounded an IS hideout in the desert of Kubeisa, some 180 km west the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the ministry said in a statement.
"A total of eight IS militants were killed in the airstrike and their hideout was destroyed, along with destroying explosive belts and homemade bombs," the statement added.
The U.S.-led international coalition was formed to support the Iraqi forces in its war against the extremist militant group after the latter took control of large swathes of territories in northern and western Iraq in June 2014.
The international coalition has been conducting air raids against IS targets in both Iraq and Syria.
The security situation in Iraq has been dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces declared that they had fully defeated the extremist IS militants across the country late in 2017.
However, groups of extremist militants melted or regrouped in urban or in deserts and rugged areas, and have been carrying out attacks against the security forces and civilians despite operations to hunt them down.
