BAGHDAD, June 4 (Xinhua) -- A total of 19 Islamic State (IS) militants were killed in airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition aircraft in northern Iraq, Iraqi military said on Thursday.
The 19 extremists IS militants were killed when the coalition aircraft conducted 26 airstrikes and destroyed 46 IS hideouts in Qara-Chokh Mountain near the town of Makhmour, about 60 km southeast of Nineveh's provincial capital Mosul, Yahia Rasoul, spokesman of the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi forces, said in a statement.
The airstrikes were based on information presented by the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), which was conducting an operation to hunt down IS militants in the area, the statement said.
Separately, a CTS force carried out an operation in Wadi Hauran area in a desert in Iraq's western province of Anbar and destroyed three IS positions, the statement added.
Also in the province, a CTS force captured two IS militants in the city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of the capital Baghdad, the statement said without giving further details.
The operations came as the extremist IS militants have intensified their attacks on the security forces, including Hashd Shaabi forces, and civilians in the formerly IS-controlled Sunni provinces, resulting in the killing and wounding of dozens.
The security situation in Iraq has been improving since Iraqi security forces fully defeated the IS militants across the country late in 2017.
However, IS remnants have since melted in urban areas or deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians. Enditem
