TIKRIT, Iraq, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces and allied militias continued on Thursday their offensive against the Islamic State (IS) group in Salahudin province, recapturing three villages and killing at least 30 IS militants, a provincial security source said.
The troops and paramilitary militias, known as Hashd Shaabi, backed by Iraqi aircraft, advanced during the day and retook control of the three villages in the vast desert area west of the city of Samarra, some 120 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
More than 30 IS militants and two members of the Iraqi security forces were killed in the fierce clashes, the source said.
The offensive was launched on late Tuesday and was designed to hunt down and flush out IS militants from the desert area to secure the main road between Baghdad and Salahudin's provincial capital city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, the source said.
More progress is expected against the IS as major reinforcements have arrived in the area to crack down on the extremist militants, the source added.
The security situation in Iraq has drastically deteriorated since June 10 in 2014, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and the IS group.