22 IS militants killed in clashes, airstrike in Iraq

Baghdad, March 17: At least 22 militants of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group were killed on Tuesday in an airstrike and two IS attacks on Iraqi forces north of Iraq’s capital Baghdad, security sources said. In Iraq’s northern central province of Salahudin, the IS militants carried out an attack in al-Dyoum area west of the besieged city of Tikrit, the capital of Salahudin province, but were repelled by the security forces and allied Shia and Sunni militias, a provincial security source told Xinhua news agency on condition of anonymity. The troops foiled the IS attack which was aimed at breaking the week-long siege of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, killing at least seven IS militants, the source said. The battles to free Tikrit from IS militants have been stalled as the militants planted thousands of bombs and booby-trapped dozens of buildings and cars. But sporadic clashes continue. Separately, the army’s helicopter gunships pounded an IS convoy of eight vehicles on a desert road near the militant-held town of Seiniyah, some 30 km north of Tikrit, destroying five vehicles carrying heavy machine guns, and leaving at least 12 militants dead, the source added. (IANS)