Iraqi Air Force Kills Over 15 Militants, Injures Senior Daesh Commander

Four Daesh commanders were killed during an Iraqi Air Force raid.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — An Iraqi Air Force campaign left 15 militants dead and the second-in-command of the Islamic State (IS, or Daesh in the Arab world) extremist group injured, the country’s Interior Ministry said Saturday.

"The aviation destroyed a [militant] headquarters, which led to the death of 15 militants, several were injured," the ministry said in a statement.

According to the ministry, during the operation on the Iraqi-Syrian border, Daesh second-in-command known as Abu Ali Anbari was injured in an explosion of alleged suicide bomb belts stored in the headquarters.

"According to the information we have, he was wounded and transferred to the Bukemal area," the Interior Ministry said.

Four Daesh commanders are said to be among those killed in the air operation.

Daesh has seized large areas in Iraq, as well as in neighboring Syria, seeking to establish a strict Sharia law on the territories it controls. Its advance is countered by a US-led coalition’s airstrikes and Iraqi army forces on the ground in Iraq. The coalition also conducts airstrikes in Syria, where Russia is carrying out a separate aerial campaign against Daesh, outlawed in Russia, at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad.