Islamic State suicide bomber kills two Iraqi generals

An Islamic State suicide bomber has killed two Iraqi army generals as they led forces against IS positions in the turbulent Anbar province west of Baghdad.

They said the bomber drove his vehicle, loaded with explosives, into the advancing troops north of Anbar’s provincial capital, Ramadi, killing the two generals and three soldiers.

A military spokesman said 10 other soldiers were wounded. The IS group captured Ramadi earlier this year and also controls the nearby city of Fallujah.

In Syria, IS militants seized five villages from rebel groups in the north as part of an advance towards the strategic town of Marea near the Turkish border.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other activist groups said IS carried out a suicide bombing on the outskirts of Marea amid fierce fighting in the area.

The Turkish Dogan news agency also reported renewed fighting between IS and rebels across the border from Kilis and said the US-led coalition bombed IS targets in the region.

The IS advance is in the northern countryside of Aleppo province, near the area where Turkey and the United States have agreed to establish an IS-free safe zone.