ANBAR, Iraq
At least 45 ISIL militants were killed Saturday in the western Iraqi province of Anbar, according Iraqi army sources.
Five people were killed in the U.S-led international coalition’s airstrikes on ISIL base in Al-Qa’im town 350 km west of Ramadi city.
The death toll included Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, ISIL’s spokesman for Anbar province, Major Diyaa Kazem Dabbous told AA.
Also, the Iraqi security forces killed 40 ISIL militants Saturday, including two suicide attackers who were driving explosive-laden cars.
The clashes took place when the Iraqi security forces repelled ISIL militants’ attack on the highway connecting Fallujah and Ramadi cities, according General Major Kasem al-Mohammadi, Iraqi army forces’ chief of Anbar province.
The death toll could not be independently verified.
Iraqi government troops are fighting ISIL militants, backed by the U.S.-led coalition's airstrikes campaign that has been going on for five months.
Iraq has been gripped by a security vacuum since June 2014 when ISIL stormed the northern province of Mosul and declared what it calls a caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
