Six militants of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group were killed on Saturday, including an IS local leader, in an airstrike in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a security source has said. Based on intelligence reports, the Iraqi warplanes carried out an airstrike on an IS position in the Udheim area in the northern part of Diyala province, Xinhua news agency quoted Colonel Ehab Mohammed from the Iraqi army as saying.

The airstrike killed six IS militants, including a local IS leader, Mohammed said. The provinces, which the IS militants had previously controlled, have witnessed their intense activities during the past months, despite repeated military operations to hunt them down.