Notorious IS leader killed in western Iraq

Iraqi security forces on Saturday killed a prominent Islamic State (IS) leader in the western province of Anbar, the provincial police chief said.

The IS leader, identified as Sulaiman Ahmed Mudhein, was killed in an operation carried out by a joint force from Anbar's Operations Command and provincial police commandos in a desert area near al-Razaza Lake in the southwest of the provincial capital Ramadi, located some 110 km west of Baghdad, Hadi Erzeij told Xinhua.

"The terrorist ... is the administrative leader of the IS group camps in Anbar Province, and was responsible for many terrorist attacks in the province during the past years," Erzeij said.

IS militants are still active in the vast Anbar desert which stretches to the border with neighboring countries of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, as many civilians have been kidnapped or killed by the extremist group recently.

The security situation in Iraq has been dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces declared full defeat of the IS across the country late in 2017.

However, IS remnants have since melted or regrouped in cities or fled to desert and rugged areas, carrying out attacks against the security forces and civilians despite operations from time to time to hunt them down.