17 ISIL militants slain, tens injured in Iraqi army strikes

At least 17 members of the Takfiri ISIL terrorist group have been killed and tens of others injured in airstrikes by Iraq’s air force in the country’s conflict-stricken northern province of Salahuddin.

According to a statement released by the Iraqi Defense Ministry on Thursday, the extremists were killed and wounded after Iraqi fighter jets carried out precision strikes in the Haqoul Ajil district, east of the strategic city of Tikrit, itself situated 140 kilometers (86 miles) northwest of the capital, Baghdad.

The statement said the Iraqi military aircraft also destroyed 12 vehicles used by the militants as well as an excavator with a 3"/23 caliber anti-aircraft gun mounted on it.

On Wednesday, 18 ISIL Takfiris were killed when units of Iraqi government forces fired a number of rockets at ISIL positions in the city of Fallujah, located roughly 69 kilometers (43 miles) west of Baghdad.

A director for ISIL’s economic and financial affairs, identified as Abu Sora al-Maslawi, was among the slain militants in the Wednesday military operation.

On Tuesday, Iraqi fighter jets pounded ISIL hideouts in the city of Shirqat, located some 300 kilometers (190 miles) north of Baghdad, and the districts of Makfoul, al-Mallaha and al-Ba’aji in Salahuddin Province, killing at least 45 ISIL militants.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been in chaos since ISIL started its campaign of terror in early June 2014. The terrorists are in control of Mosul and have swept through parts of the country.

Since the onset of the ISIL’s terror campaign, Iraq’s army has been joined by Kurdish forces, and Shia and Sunni volunteers in operations to drive the ISIL terrorists out of the areas they have seized, with the recapture of the northern city of Tikrit being their most significant recent achievement.

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