Iraqi military strikes in Anbar province kill three IS militants

Iraqi authorities announced on Tuesday that three Islamic State group militants were killed in airstrikes in the country's west.

"Based on information received from the Iraqi National Intelligence Service, the air forces carried out three airstrikes, using F-16 aircraft, targeting a group affiliated with IS terrorist gangs in the Shuaib Al-Daye area in Anbar," said the defence ministry's Security Media Cell said in a statement.

عمليات متواصلة تقوم بها قواتنا المسلحة لملاحقة بقايا عناصر العصابات الإرهابية ، مسنودة بالجهد الاستخباري، وبناءً على المعلومات الاستخبارية الواردة من جهاز المخابرات الوطني العراقي وبالتنسيق مع خلية الاستهداف التابعة لقيادة العمليات المشتركة، نفذت القوة الجوية بواسطة طائرات F_16

— خلية الإعلام الأمني🇮🇶 (@SecMedCell) March 1, 2022

It added that such operations are aimed to "eliminate terrorist elements and not give them an opportunity to find safe havens".

Iraq's air force killed IS' group's chief in the Anbar province when his car was targeted last month.

IS leader Abu Ibrahim Al-Qurayshi was also killed in a US raid in northwestern Idlib last month, along with his wife and two children. The US said Al-Qurayshi detonated a bomb belt killing himself and his family.

Baghdad has intensified its operations in recent weeks targeting IS hideouts, as the extremist militant group continues to wage a low-level insurgency, killing several military and security personnel.

IS once controlled large swathes of territory in both Iraq and neighbouring Syria until a US-backed government fightback saw the group defeated.

IS militants continue attacks on civilians and military targets in Syria and Iraq.