ANKARA
U.S. war planes have bombed targets of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Tuesday, said a police chief.
The attack took place in Havice region near Kirkuk and caused several casualties among ISIL ranks, Havice police chief Kazim Muhammad told Anadolu Agency.
Meanwhile, the clashes between ISIL and the Kurdish peshmerga continue in Kirkuk.
Three peshmergas and 15 ISIL militants died during clashes in the town of Dakuk, south of Kirkuk, Dakuk security officer Kawa Garip said.
ISIL has captured large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, declaring what it calls a cross-border Islamic ‘caliphate,’ killing thousands and displacing millions in the two countries.
At least 25 ISIL militants have been killed in separate attacks by the Iraqi army and local militia forces in various locations in Iraq on Tuesday.
At least another 15 ISIL militants were killed in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, according to a written statement by Iraqi's Interior Ministry Spokesman Saad Moen.
In the eastern Diyala province of Iraq, 10 other ISIL insurgents were also killed, Lieutenant General Abdulemir ez-Zadi, the commander of operations in Diyala said.
Iraq has suffered from escalating ethnic violence, which then morphed into a militant campaign since a coalition of armed groups linked to ISIL captured large swathes of the country's predominantly Sunni provinces in early June.
Violence instigated by ISIL militants has claimed more than 1,400 lives in August alone, and caused 1.2 million Iraqis, including Turkmen, Arabs, Christians and Ezidis, to flee their homes.
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