BAGHDAD
At least 40 militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant were killed in airstrikes on Sunday by US-led international coalition forces in the western Iraqi province of Anbar.
The commander responsible for operations in Anbar's Al-Jazeera and Al-Badiyah regions, Major General Zia Kazim, told Anadolu Agency: "The strike was conducted on Sunday morning 220 kilometers west of Ramadi in the province of Anbar. The attack left 40 ISIL militants dead; 20 vehicles carrying heavy weapons were also destroyed."
Meanwhile, at least five civilians were killed and 21 others were wounded in two seperate bomb atacks in capital Baghdad.
Kazim said the offensive against ISIL militants in Anbar came after "we received valuable information from the intelligence services."
Anbar police chief Kazim Mohammed al-Fahdawi said: "During the airstrike, ISIL militants tried to fight and the operations took approximately 2 hours and four ISIL militants were killed."
"But the security forces did not give any information if they lost someone during the attack," he added.
ISIL is currently in control of large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, plunging the region into deep crisis.
The US-led airstrikes have helped the Iraqi army and Kurdish forces to gain more ground from the terrorist group and are moving closer to the northern city of Mosul.
On Saturday, Kurdish Peshmerga forces entered Sinjar district of Nineveh province in the north.
According to the U.N., an estimated 1.8 million citizens have been internally displaced this year throughout Iraq.
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