RAMADI, Iraq, July 30 (Xinhua) -- At least 15 Islamic State (IS) militants were killed on Sunday in airstrikes and clashes with Iraqi security forces in Iraq's western province of Anbar, a security source told Xinhua.
The Iraqi army and paramilitary Sunni tribal unit, backed by international aircraft, carried out an operation on IS posts in Um al-Waz area in northwest of the town of Haditha, some 180 km west of Ramadi, Anbar's provincial capital city, the source said on condition of anonymity.
The clashes and the airstrikes killed at least 15 IS militants and wounded many others, along with destroying four IS vehicles and a warehouse contains ammunition and weapons, the source said.
Earlier, the Iraqi security forces dislodged IS militants from the key cities of Anbar province, including Ramadi and the nearby Fallujah, but the area near Haditha and the towns near the border with neighboring Syria, including Aana, Rawa and al-Qaim, as well as the vast rural areas across the province are still under IS control.
Sunday's operation and airstrikes came after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on July 10 officially declared Mosul liberated from IS after nearly nine months of fierce fighting to dislodge the extremist militants from their last major stronghold in Iraq.
Earlier in the month, Iraqi military officials, including Abdul Amir Yarallah from the Joint Operations Command, said after the liberation of Mosul that the troops will advance westward to free Tal Afar, the last IS redoubt in Nineveh province, before moving on to retake other IS-held areas.
