3 IS militants planning to stage attacks killed in Iraq

A joint army and paramilitary Hashd Shaabi force on Monday ambushed a group of IS militants in a rural area near the town of Tarmoyah, some 30 km north of Baghdad, killing the three militants, Xinhua news agency reported. 

One of the victims was identified as Omer Jawad Mahmoud, whose known to be responsible for transporting IS suicide bombers to their targets in nearby cities, the Hashd Shaabi said in a statement. 

The troops continue their operation to clear the rural areas in north of Baghdad from the extremist IS militants, the statement added. 

Over the past months, IS militants have intensified attacks on Iraqi security forces in the province the terror group previously controlled, leaving dozens dead and wounded. 

The security situation in Iraq has been improving since security forces fully defeated the IS in 2017.