Iraq: Coalition airstrikes kill scores of Islamic State militants in Anbar province

FALLUJAH, Iraq, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Dozens of Islamic State militants were killed in a day of coalition airstrikes and clashes with security forces in Iraq's Anbar province, according to security sources and battle damage reports.

A provincial security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua news agency airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition on Sunday destroyed a car bomb factory in Fallujah, killing an unknown number of the militants.

A Sunday report from the U.S. Department of Defense confirms six airstrikes against two IS car bomb factories in Fallujah, as well as against weapons caches, a command and control facility and a staging area used by the militants.

Meanwhile, IraqiNews.com quoted an anonymous security source in the province as saying coalition warplanes, in coordination with Iraqi forces on the ground, conducted airstrikes in the Albu Aitha area in eastern Ramadi, killing 27 militants.

"The coalition aircraft also bombed three [IS] vehicles in Albu Aitha area, causing great material and human losses in the ranks of the organization," IraqiNews.com quoted the source as saying.

The Defense Department on Sunday confirmed three airstrikes near Ramadi hit three IS tactical units and destroyed two fighting positions, two buildings and a homemade explosives cache used by the militants.

Last week, a coalition airstrike against a house northeast of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, is reported to have killed at least 18 IS fighters.

The Sunday strikes coincide with reports of Iraqi security forces killing 12 IS fighters during hours of clashes at the Fallujah University compound and the nearby Haiyakel area, south of Fallujah.

The Iraqi military has since mid-July been on the offensive in Anbar province, where the militants have held territory for more than a year. IS forces first spilled into the province from Syria as early as December 2013, but Iraqi security forces lost larger swaths of the country in June 2014, when the militants seized vast tracts of land in the north and west.

The U.S.-led coalition began conducting airstrikes against IS forces in Iraq in August 2014 and in Syria the following month.

The U.S. State Department in June said the coalition bombing campaign, known as Operation Inherent Resolve, had resulted in the deaths of at least 10,000 IS militants.

A United Nations report released earlier this month indicated a total of 1,325 people --including 585 civilians -- were killed in terrorist attacks and armed conflict in Iraq during August 2015.