31 killed in airstrikes, attacks across Iraq

At least 31 people were killed in airstrikes against positions of the Islamic State (IS) militants and violent attacks across Iraq on Sunday, security sources said.

In Iraq’s western province of Anbar, the international warplanes foiled an attack by the IS militants when they pounded three boats carrying extremist militants who were trying to cross Euphrates river to attack the town of al-Baghdadi, some 200 km northwest of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a source told Xinhua news agency.

The airstrikes destroyed the three boats and killed at least 15 militants, the source said, adding that the IS militants who seized the open land near the town, responded to the airstrikes by firing mortar rounds on the town, leaving two government-backed Sunni paramilitary tribesmen dad and six others wounded.

Meanwhile, a federal police force backed by allied Sunni tribesmen and covered by US-led coalition aircraft carried out an offensive on the IS positions in Albu Farraj area in the provincial capital city of Ramadi, 110 km west of Baghdad, and managed to retake control of the police station and the 

surrounding area, the source said.