BAGHDAD — Daesh (the so-called IS) said on Thursday it had shot down an Iraqi fighter plane north of the city of Ramadi in Anbar Province. It was not immediately possible to independently confirm the claim made on one of Daesh's Twitter accounts. A member of an anti-Daesh Sunni force called Sahwa (Awakening) said an Iraqi jet, a Russian-made Su-25, was seen in crashing in flames after being shot down north of Ramadi. Iraq's government relies on a US-led coalition and Iranian-backed Shiite militias in its fight against Daesh. The group's Twitter account said the jet had been shot down as it conducted a raid on areas north of Ramadi, the provincial capital of Sunni heartland Anbar. Daesh militants seized Ramadi last month and the city is a focal point of coalition efforts to slow the group's advances in Iraq, a major oil producer and OPEC member. On Thursday, Daesh insurgents fired mortars at a military barracks in the town of Amiriyat al-Falluja, also in Anbar, killing a soldier and a policeman, police sources said. Insurgents also attacked Al-Mazra'a village with mortar rounds, killing five members of the security forces. — Reuters
