Suicide bombings, clashes with IS in Iraq kill 25

At least 25 people were killed and some 50 others wounded in clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants and suicide bomb attacks across Iraq on Tuesday, security sources said.

In Iraq’s western province of Anbar, at least eight IS militants were killed and some 20 others wounded in fierce clashes with Iraqi security forces backed by allied militias known as <g data-gr-id="21">Hashd</g> Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) around the Sunni town of Saqlawiyah north of the IS-held city of Fallujah, a provincial security source told Xinhua news agency.

The clashes near Saqlawiyah are part of a battle that broke out the day before when the security forces and allied militiamen advanced to free Saqlawiyah and nearby <g data-gr-id="22">Sheiha</g> area from IS militants, but were confronted with fierce resistance when suicide bombers rammed their explosives-laden vehicles into the troops’ positions and blew them up.

Also in the province, heavy clashes erupted between IS militants and troops in Haqlaniyah area, some 200 km northwest of Iraq’s capital Baghdad, the source said without giving further 

details.

The clashes in Haqlaniyah came one day after bloody fighting when IS militants attacked Haqlaniyah area with four suicide car bombers.

The nearby area was also the scene of deadly attacks when the IS militants carried out a wave of six suicide car bombings on a strategic dam near the town of Haditha but was thwarted by the security forces and allied Sunni tribal fighters.