Islamic State Militants Shot down Iraqi Fighter Plane

Islamic State militants said yesterday that it had shot down an Iraqi fighter plane in the north of the city of Ramadi in Anbar Province.

It was not immediately possible to independently confirm the claim made on one of Islamic State’s Twitter accounts.

A member of an antiIslamic State Sunni force called Sahwa ( Awakening) said an Iraqi jet, a Russianmade Su- 25, was seen in crashing in flames after being shot down north of Ramadi.

Iraq’s government relies on a U. S.- led coalition and Iranianbacked Shi’ite militias in its fight against Islamic State, which is occupying a third of the country as well as parts of neighboring Syria.

The Islamic State Twitter account said the jet had been shot down as it conducted a raid on areas north of Ramadi, the provincial capital of Sunni heartland Anbar.

Islamic State militants seized Ramadi last month and the city is a focal point of coalition efforts to slow the group’s advances in Iraq, a major oil producer and OPEC member.

Also yesterday, Islamic State insurgents fired mortars at a military barracks in the town of Amiriyat al- Falluja, also in Anbar, killing a soldier and a policeman, police sources said.

Insurgents also attacked the village of al- Mazra’a with mortar rounds, killing five members of the Iraqi security forces.