ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – At least 15 ISIS militants were killed Wednesday as the international coalition formed to fight the Islamic State, or ISIS, conducted heavy airstrikes in the western part of the city of Mosul, a Kurdish official told Rudaw.

“The airstrikes shelled Daesh [ISIS] bases in Sheikh Fathi neighborhood, in the west of Mosul, completely destroying their base and killed 15 gunmen,” said Saeed Mamuzini, the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party branch 14 in Mosul.

Mamuzini said explosives were also set off in Mosul’s Bashouk area of the ISIS-held city on Wednesday, caused the death of eight other militants, including one believed to be Abu Marwan Anbari, an ISIS leader in Mosul.

The US-led coalition has been bombing the outskirts of Mosul for more than a year but there have been no ground attacks on the city.

Rudaw