Jihadist Attack Kills Six Soldiers in Western Iraq

At least six soldiers were killed Monday in an attack in western Iraq claimed by the Islamic State group that began with five suicide bombers ramming explosives-laden vehicles into a checkpoint, officials said.

Several foreigners were among the bombers, including a Frenchman, according to a statement by IS which said its fighters carried out the attack.

A senior officer in the Iraqi army, manning the checkpoint near the town of Al-Baghdadi in Anbar province, said nine soldiers were also wounded.

He told AFP that after the suicide attacks some 25 jihadists launched an assault on the checkpoint, the main one on the road leading to Al-Asad air base, where a large number of Iraqi troops and foreign advisers are stationed.

The officer said most of the gunmen were wearing suicide vests.

About five hours of clashes ensued, he said, and all the attackers were killed, with the support of strikes from the U.S.-led international coalition.

Malallah al-Obeidi, who heads Al-Baghdadi local council, confirmed the details of the attack and said Iraqi forces were in control of the checkpoint.

IS, in its statement posted on social media, claimed that the battle was still ongoing.

It also gave names or noms de guerre for five "martyrdom knights" that suggest at least four of the bombers were foreigners.

Among them was a Frenchman, "Abu Zubayr al-Faransi", as well as a Jordanian and Turk.

"Clashes erupted with the enemy of Allah and the mujahedin (holy warriors) managed to control a checkpoint called Majid and a large nearby post," the statement said.

The group claimed 60 soldiers were killed or wounded, that some of their equipment was seized and fighting was ongoing.

Al-Baghdadi lies on the Euphrates river, about 180 kilometers (110 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

Iraqi security forces have in recent days been involved in a major push to retake the city of Hit, which lies further along the river and is controlled by IS militants.

They are closing in on the town from Al-Baghdadi and from Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province which was fully retaken from IS last month.

The vast operation to flush IS out of cities in Anbar has displaced tens of thousands of people and fighting is far from over.

"We fear that as many as 50,000 individuals will be displaced in the upcoming days as the military operations continue," said the Norwegian Refugee Council's program manager, Salah Noori.

Aid agencies have warned that the families displaced from Hit and its surroundings are very hard to reach and still dangerously close to the front lines.

Some 53,000 people had already been forced to flee their homes this year before the start of the operation to retake Hit, according to U.N. figures.

The International Organization for Migration says 44 percent of the more than 3.3 million people displaced in Iraq since the beginning of 2014 are from Anbar.