According to a statement released by the Iraqi Defense Ministry on Friday, a total of 124 ISIL militants died when Iraqi security troopers, supported by military aircraft, struck the Takfiris’ positions in the northern provinces of Kirkuk and Salahuddin as well as the troubled western province of Anbar.

The statement added that four terrorist hideouts and eight vehicles belonging to ISIL extremists plus a bomb-making workshop were destroyed during the attacks.

Iraqi army soldiers also launched mop-up operations in the town of al-Tarmiyah, situated some 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad.

Government forces killed 25 ISIL members, arrested 17 others, cleared three booby-trapped houses and defused seven improvised explosive devices following heavy clashes. The extremists were reportedly planning to carry out acts of terror north and west of Baghdad.