Coalition Carries Out 26 Strikes against IS in Iraq

U.S.-led coalition aircraft carried out 26 strikes in Iraq over 24 hours targeting the Islamic State jihadist group north and west of Baghdad, it said on Monday.

"In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 26 air strikes" using manned and unmanned aircraft from Sunday to Monday morning, the coalition said in a statement.

Thirteen of the strikes were in Anbar province west of Baghdad, where Iraqi security forces are battling to expand their control beyond the pockets of territory they currently hold.

There were eight more near Baiji in Salaheddin province, another contested area, and five in Nineveh, the first province to fall to an IS-led offensive last June.

Iraqi security forces performed dismally in the early days of the militant drive, which overran much of the country's Sunni Arab heartland.

But Iraqi forces have since managed to regain significant territory from the jihadists with support from pro-government paramilitaries, the U.S.-led coalition and Iran.