By Fatma Bulbul
BAGHDAD / SALADIN, Iraq
At least 54 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants have been killed in separate Iraqi army attacks in Iraq's northern Saladin and Diyala provinces, according to Iraqi security officials on Monday.
According to a statement from the Iraqi Interior Ministry, 41 ISIL militants, including ISIL commander Hamad Hulv Hamad an-Necres, were killed in airstrikes carried out by Iraqi security forces.
Ten ISIL vehicles and 42 explosives placed by militants were also destroyed in the Beyci district of Saladin province.
The statements added that four ISIL commanders were killed in the town of Sadiye in Iraq's Diyala province.
In a separate incident, nine ISIL militants were killed during unrelated operations in Saladin province.
Major General Hamad an-Namis, police chief of Saladin province, said that nine ISIL militants were killed, eight others wounded and seven heavy weapon-laden ISIL vehicles were destroyed during the operations.
Meanwhile, some political groups reacted against Obama's deployment of 1,500 troops to Iraq.
U.S. President Barack Obama announced on Sunday the deployment of a further 1,500 troops to Iraq in what he termed a "new phase" in the battle against the Islamic State for Iraq and the Levant.
Since mid-June, fighting in Iraq has pitted the Iraqi army and Kurdish peshmerga forces against ISIL militants, who have taken control of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city.
ISIL is currently in control of large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.
The U.S. is leading an international coalition, which includes France, Germany, and Saudi Arabia, and has carried out numerous airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq and Syria.
According to the U.N., an estimated 1.8 million citizens have been internally displaced this year throughout Iraq.
www.aa.com.tr/en
