Air strikes in western Iraq, near the border with Syria, killed dozens of fighters from the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group today, military and medical sources said today.
"Dozens of IS fighters were killed in US strikes targeting the group along the border with Syria and in Al-Qaim," defence spokesman Mohammed al-Askari told AFP.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Pentagon of strikes in the area but air raids were carried out overnight by US aircraft and forces from allied Arab countries on the Syrian side of the border.
"We gave the Iraqi air force the coordinates of around 80 IS positions in western Anbar province," a colonel in the Iraqi army said.
"Several of these positions were hit, a large number of IS fighters were killed and several ammunition depots destroyed," he said, adding he did not have an accurate toll.
Al-Qaim is a large town on the Euphrates which sits just across the border from Albu Kamal, a Syrian town also controlled by IS and one of the main targets of the US-led overnight strikes in Syria.
"Hospitals in western Anbar have over the past hours received the bodies of 48 IS fighters killed by air strikes on various spots in the western part of the province," an official from the provincial health department said.
"Most of them were very severely wounded and died either on their way to or shortly after reaching hospital," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
US Central Command said its forces carried out air raids in Iraq as well as Syria overnight.
It said US warplanes conducted four air strikes in Iraq, destroying two Humvees, an IS armed vehicle and an IS fighting position southwest of Kirkuk.
