Iraqi air strike kills 45 ISIS members

June 23 (UPI) -- Iraqi military officials said Saturday that 45 members of the Islamic State were killed in an airstrike in eastern Syria.

Iraq's Joint Operations Command told Voice of America that F-16 warplanes targeted three houses Friday in Hajin town, where Islamic State leaders had been meeting.

A "deputy war minister," for the Islamic State, its police chief, a "media emir," and a personal courier for its leader were among those killed, the military said in a statement to VOA. The aerial attack was executed with approval from the Syrian government and the U.S.-led coalition. It was one of several carried out since last year.

The Islamic State, which once occupied a third of Iraq's territory, has largely been defeated in the country, but still poses a threat along the Syrian border, the New York Times reported.