SALADIN, Iraq
At least 46 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants have been killed in separate Iraqi army attacks, according to Iraqi security officials.
Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saidi, the commander of Iraqi army forces in Saladin, told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday that 23 ISIL militants were killed during the clashes with the Iraqi army in the Ed-Duceyl district of Iraq's northwestern city of Tikrit.
In a separate incident, another 23 ISIL militants were killed during operations in the northeast of Bakubah, the capital of Iraq's Diyala Governorate, Diyala police officer Camel esh-Shemeri said.
The Iraqi army has been engaged in severe fighting with ISIL militants since the extremist group took control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in addition to other large swathes of the country in mid-June.
According to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 24,015 civilians have been killed or injured in Iraq during the first eight months of 2014.
ISIL violence has also caused 1.2 million Iraqis - including Turkmen, Arabs, Christians and Ezidis - to flee their homes.
The U.S. is leading an international coalition against ISIL, using air strikes to target their positions in Iraq and Syria.
www.aa.com.tr/en
