Baghdad- No fewer than 15 Iraqi soldiers were killed on Tuesday in fighting with Islamic State jihadists near the western town of al-Baghdadi, security officials said.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State backed the security forces.
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A military source said that reinforcements had been sent to the area, some 170 kilometres west of Baghdad in al-Anbar province, with the aim of surrounding the militants in the desert.
Sheikh Na’im al-Kaoud of the al-Bu Nimr tribe, which has reportedly lost hundreds of members to mass executions by the militants, said that Islamic State forces had launched a two-pronged assault on al-Baghdadi.
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In spite of opposition from some local tribes, the Islamic State has captured much of Sunni-dominated al-Anbar, which stretches from the outskirts of Baghdad to the Syrian border. (dpa/NAN)
