BAGHDAD, May 15 (Xinhua) -- A total of nine Islamic State (IS) militants were killed on Wednesday in an operation by Iraqi forces in the western province of Anbar, the Iraqi military said.
The Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), backed by Iraqi and international coalition aircraft, conducted airdrop operations in a desert area in Anbar, a media office affiliated with the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said in a statement.
The troops killed nine IS militants and destroyed their headquarters, as well as tunnels and caches of weapons and explosives, the statement said, adding the operation is still underway.
IS militants are still active in the vast Anbar desert which stretches to the border with neighboring countries of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, as many civilians have been kidnapped or killed by the extremist group recently.
The security situation in Iraq was dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces fully defeated the extremist IS militants across the country late in 2017.
IS remnants, however, have since melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas as safe havens, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians.
