Iraqi security forces killed 40 ISIL militants and wrestled the control of the al-Khasfa region on Thursday in the western province of Anbar, an Iraqi army source said.
The clashes took place in al-Khasfa region, which is 190 kilometers (119 miles) west of Ramadi city, the capital of Anbar province.
“Iraqi security forces killed 40 ISIL militants, including a leader called Abo-Anas al-Samarrai,” General Major Diyaa Kazem Dabbous told The Anadolu Agency.
Iraqi security forces are dismantling ISIL’s planted improvised explosive devices in the area.
Dabbous described the operation as a great victory against terrorism due to the strategic position of the area which ISIL was using to attack Haditha town.
The death toll could not be independently verified.
ISIL, however, seized control of the al-Bou Ghanem region in eastern Anbar on Thursday, a tribal source said.
Pro-government tribal fighters had to withdraw from the area after intense clashes with ISIL due to a lack of Iraqi security support, according to the tribal chief and Arkan Khalaf al-Tarmouz, a member of Anabar province’s council.
Iraq has been in a security vacuum since June last year, when ISIL stormed Mosul and declared what it called a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria.
