Army airstrike in Tal Afar leaves six Islamic State militants killed

Tal Afar (IraqiNews.com) Around six Islamic State militants were killed as Iraqi army targeted IS locations in Tal Afar town, west of Mosul, which is still held by the militant group.

In a statement on Thursday, the Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell said Iraqi army jets “launched airstrikes targeting IS locations in Tal Afar.”

“Based on information from the Nineveh Operations Command, Iraqi jets launched airstrikes, destroying weapon stash and burning huge amounts of arms and explosives that were inside it in the military district in the town,” the statement added.

“Around six militants were killed in al-Ayadiya district, north of Tal Afar,” the WMC said.

Last week, Lt.Gen. Abdul Amir Yarallah said the fourth phase of liberation will be launched soon to free Tal Afar and other regions to complete the liberation of the whole province.

A source was quoted earlier this month as saying that non-Iraqi IS militants executed the last local leader in Tal Afar and the town is currently run by Arab and foreign members after eliminating all the Iraqi leaders.

Tal Afar is one of the important strongholds still held by IS in Nineveh since August 2014, while Hawija has been held by IS since mid-2014, when the group emerged to proclaim an Islamic “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria.