Coalition air raids kill dozens of IS east of Salahuddin

Tuz Khurmatu (IraqiNews.com) Tens of Islamic State militants were killed Sunday after warplanes from the United States.-led coalition pounded their locations in Salahuddin province.

Abdullah Bur, area commander for Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Tuz Khurmatu, said coalition warplanes pounded gatherings of IS militants in a chicken pen in Zarka region, 75 Km east of Salahuddin.

Bur said the militants were grouping at the area in preparation for an attack on Peshmerga forces, but the attack was foiled by the fighter jets based on intelligence information.

Peshmerga forces have been actively contributing to Iraq’s war against Islamic State militants since the group emerged in 2014 to proclaim a self-styled Islamic “Caliphate”.

Islamic State members have escalated attacks against civilians and security forces at areas recaptured by government troops and allied paramilitary forces over the past years. The attacks and counterattacks from security troops left hundreds of personnel, civilians and militants dead.

Government troops managed early July to recapture the group’s largest stronghold, Mosul, after more than eight months of U.S. backed offensives. The government is bent on further offensives to recapture areas still under IS’s control. The group still holds smaller havens in Salahuddin, Anbar, Kirkuk and Nineveh.