5 IS suicide bombers, 2 others killed

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Xinhua) — Five Islamic State (IS) suicide bombers and two security members were killed when Iraqi forces and US-led coalition aircraft attacked an IS hideout near Iraqi capital Baghdad, the Iraqi military said on Sunday.

Acting on intelligence reports, an Iraqi force affiliated with the intelligence service surrounded an IS hideout housing five suicide bombers in a village located in the southwest of Baghdad, the media office of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said in a statement without giving further details about when exactly the raid occurred.

The troops, backed by an international coalition drone, managed to kill four suicide bombers, while the fifth blew himself up, leaving an officer and a soldier killed, the statement added.

An Iraqi force affiliated with the intelligence service surrounded an IS hideout housing five suicide bombers in a village located in the southwest of Baghdad.

The raid came as the extremist IS militants have intensified their attacks on the security forces, including Hashd Shaabi forces, and civilians in the formerly IS-controlled Sunni provinces, resulting in the killing and wounding of dozens.

The security situation in Iraq has been improving since Iraqi security forces fully defeated the IS militants across the country late in 2017.

However, IS remnants have since melted in urban areas or deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians.