Islamic State Suicide Attacks in Iraqi Province Leave at Least 12 Dead

At least 12 people have been killed as Islamic State (IS) militants carried out two suicide-car bombs attacks in the western Iraqi province of Anbar where the extremists are gaining further ground, Al Jazeera reported Saturday.

MOSCOW, December 13 (Sputnik) — The attacks, aimed at security checkpoints at the entrance of the Haditha city, killed at least three civilian and nine policemen and injured over 17 people, according to the news outlet.

The militants also shot down an Iraqi military helicopter on Saturday killing two pilots, the newspaper said.

IS controls the areas of Anbar bordering the Syrian border while Haditha is still mainly under the control by the Iraqi government.

Anbar is Iraq’s largest province and where IS has its main strongholds in the city of Ramadi city. Anbar is home to the country’s largest oilfields, a target source of revenue for the militants.

On Friday, the group also besieged 450 Sunni Muslim tribal fighters in Anbar, according to Anadolu agency. Meanwhile, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that on the same day, IS fighters beheaded four men in the Syrian city of Homs for “insulting Almighty Allah[God]” in public.

IS extremist militant group has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012 and is responsible for horrific atrocities including beheadings and public crucifixions. The group declared a caliphate on the territories it has captured across Syria and Iraq.

The Syrian and Iraqi armed forces and tribal fighters have been fighting the Shia Muslim militants aided by a US-led international coalition performing airstrikes on IS targets in Syria and Iraq.