ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Fighter jets from the Iraqi air force in cooperation with Iraqi police mortar regiments bombarded ISIS positions in contested areas of the Salahadin and Anbar provinces Monday, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said in a statement.
“Mortar attacks destroyed several ISIS arsenals and stockades in the town of Husseiba east of Ramadi, killing seven militants and destroying the group’s positions and bases,” said Saad Maan, a spokesperson for the Iraqi Interior Ministry.
Maan added that Iraqi fighter jets also targeted a number of ISIS convoys in the Haqol Ajul area in Salahadin province, destroying five of the group’s convoys and killing all the militants inside the vehicles.
In a separate announcement, Brigadier General Raeed Jawdat, an Iraqi police commander, said Monday the Iraqi army and ISIS were locked in an intense battle in the Fatha area in eastern Salahadin province. He claimed 40 ISIS militants and 17 Iraqi police were killed in the fighting.
In early June, the Iraqi government announced the launch of a military operation to drive ISIS out of Anbar province, where the extremists captured the provincial capital Ramadi in mid-May.
