Dozens of IS militants killed in Mosul operation

MOSUL, Iraq: Thirty-seven Islamic State militants were killed in operations as part of Iraqi military efforts to retake Mosul city from the terrorist group, the defense ministry announced Sunday. 

According to a statement issued by the ministry's Military Intelligence Directorate, Iraqi warplanes hit IS positions located in Tel al-Zalat neighborhood west of Mosul. 

In the airstrikes, 32 militants were killed and the group's armed trucks destroyed, said the statement.

In separate, five IS militants were killed in clashes with the army's 16th Infantry Division that took place in the north of Mosul, according to a military source, who requested anonymity due to restriction on speaking to the media. 

Meanwhile, Anti-terrorism Officer Lieutenant Colonel Marwan Salloum told Anadolu Agency that four Iraqi troops were killed and nine others injured in clashes with IS militants in northeastern Mosul.

Last month, the Iraqi army -- backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and local allies on the ground -- launched a major offensive to take Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, which was overran by IS-- along with large parts of the country’s northern and western regions -- in mid-2014.