BAGHDAD, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces on Wednesday clashed with Islamic State (IS) militants in the northern province of Nineveh, killing 14 of them, the Iraqi military said.
Acting on intelligence reports, Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) conducted an airdrop operation on IS headquarters in Hatra area south of Nineveh's provincial capital Mosul, said Yahya Rasoul, spokesman of the media office of the Joint Operations Command, in a statement.
The killed IS militants include local leaders and suicide bombers, the statement added.
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.
