BAGHDAD, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Six Islamic State (IS) militants were killed on Saturday in an airstrike in Iraq's Salahudin province north of Baghdad, the Iraqi military said.
Based on intelligence reports, the Iraqi forces conducted an airstrike on an IS hideout near the Himreen mountain range in the northern part of Salahudin province, the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service said in a statement.
Among the killed was Abu Maryam al-Qahtani, an IS leader in the province, who was responsible for killing and kidnapping many security members and civilians by setting up fake checkpoints on roads around the mountain range, the statement said.
Earlier in the day, the media office of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said that Iraqi fighter jets launched air strikes based on intelligence reports about the presence of important leaders of the terrorist IS group in the Himreen mountain range, without giving further details.
Over the past months, Iraqi security forces have conducted operations against the extremist militants to crack down on their intensified activities.
The security situation in Iraq has been improving since 2017 after defeating the IS. However, the IS remnants have since melted into urban centers, deserts, and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against the security forces and civilians. ■
