ANBAR, Iraq
Iraqi security forces, backed by the U.S.-led international coalition, reportedly regained control of al-Baghdadi district from Daesh in the western province of Anbar on Friday, police said.
Daesh is the Arabic acronym for the militant Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which is also known as ISIL as well.
"Iraqi security forces seized control of al-Shohadaa neighborhood and 13 Daesh militants were killed in the clashes and the international coalition’s airstrikes," Lt. Saoud al-Ibeidi said. "The Iraqi forces searched the neighborhood and moved the bodies to be buried in a mass grave."
The death toll could not be independently verified.
Iraqi forces on Feb. 18 managed to end Daesh's 10-day siege of al-Baghdadi district’s residential area and killed about 150 militants, according to police sources.
Iraq has been gripped by a security vacuum since June 2014 when Daesh militants stormed the northern province of Mosul and declared a self-styled caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria.
