At least 73 killed in offensive against IS militants in Iraq

At least 73 people were killed in battle on Monday during a U.S.-led coalition airstrike in western Iraq and in a major offensive against Islamic State (IS) militants, a security source said.

In Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, Iraqi security forces started a major offensive in the early morning hours against IS militants aiming to recapture key cities and towns seized by IS in the province, a source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

More than 30,000 Iraqi soldiers, policemen and allied Sunni and Shiite militiamen took part in the offensive, the source said.

They launched the operation via five paths: two from Mkesheifa and Sur Shnas south of Tikrit, two others from Udheim and Tuz Khurmato east of Tikrit, and the last from the Speicher airbase, just north of Tikrit, the source added.

The troops, backed by armored vehicles and aircraft, have regained control of many villages north of Samarra, some 120 km north of Baghdad, as well as villages in the Himreen area, the source said.

The unit also surrounded the town of Dour, some 25 km south of Tikrit, and managed to free a residential compound outside the town after heavy clashes with extremist militants, said the source, adding that the security forces later headed towards the town of al-Alam, just east of Tikrit.

"So far, at least 11 security members were killed and 43 were wounded by the clashes, and the 13 local policemen captured by IS inside the residential compound of Dour were released," the source said, citing initial reports.

Iraqi aircraft pounded an IS convoy of 12 vehicles near the town of Dour, destroying eight vehicles and leaving at least 20 militants dead and 14 wounded, the source said.

The forces are advancing cautiously as IS militants planted the roads and buildings with bombs, he said, adding that "so far explosion experts defused over 150 bombs and eight car bombs," he said, adding that efforts to liberate Tikrit will be next.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces, announced the launch of the offensive during a surprise visit to the operations command headquarters in Samarra, some 120 km north of Baghdad.

The offensive came following days of heavy shelling of IS positions in target cities, towns and villages.

The military operations were designed to sweep all bastions of IS militants across the province.

In Iraq's western province of Anbar, at least 10 bodies of IS militants and seven injured were brought to the Heet town hospital, seized by the militants, after the U.S.-led coalition warplanes conducted an airstrike on the battlefield area of Jubba, some 200 km northwest of Baghdad.

IS militants executed 32 security members by shooting them in the head in Jubba, the source said.

Those executed were believed to be local policemen and members of the government-backed Sahwa paramilitary group. They were captured in a battle with IS militants in Jubba, the source added.

Last month IS executed dozens of people, after major attacks on al-Baghdadi and the nearby Ain al-Asad air base where hundreds of U.S. marines live.

The security situation in Iraq started deteriorating drastically since June of last year when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and IS.

The extremist group has controlled the country's northern province of Nineveh and seized swathes of territories when Iraqi security forces abandoned their posts in other predominantly Sunni provinces. Enditem