AL-ANBAR/ SALADIN, Iraq
At least 34 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, militants were killed in two separate Iraqi army ground operations in Al-Anbar and northern Saladin provinces on Sunday, Iraqi security officials said.
At least 20 ISIL militants were killed and four explosives-laden vehicles were destroyed in Qadissiyah and Ad Duluiyah neighborhoods of Iraq's western city Tikrit, Major General Hamad an-Namis, police chief of Saladin province, said.
An-Namis said that a separate Iraqi army ground operation killed 14 ISIL militants and destroyed an ISIL vehicle after the group allegedly abducted two people in the northern Iraqi city of Saladin.
In a separate incident, ISIL militants allegedly blew up more than 120 houses belonging to the security forces in Anbar, Hazel al-Fahdavi, a member of Anbar Province's Council, said.
Meanwhile, Al-Anbar City Council President Sabah Kerhut said the ISIL militants took control of Dulab town and Al-Mohammade region and blew up a Al-Mohammade police center in a town in Al-Anbar province.
Fierce battles have been raging on between the Iraqi government forces and the ISIL as well as between the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the ISIL since mid-June, when the militant group seized control of Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq.
An international U.S.-led coalition is also carrying out airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq and Syria.
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