Iraq denies Daesh claim it shot down fighter plane

BAGHDAD — Iraq's defence ministry and the US military dismissed a claim by the Daesh terror group on Thursday that it had shot down an Iraqi fighter plane.

"The publication of these false stories is part of an unjust psychological war waged by some media outlets supporting terrorism aimed at playing down the heroics of the Iraqi army," the ministry said on its website.

Daesh said on one of its Twitter accounts it had shot down the fighter north of the Anbar provincial capital Ramadi, which the group seized last month.

A member of an anti-Daesh Sunni force called Sahwa (Awakening) said an Iraqi jet, a Russian-made Su-25, was seen crashing in flames after being shot down north of Ramadi.

The US military dismissed the Daesh claim, saying all US-led coalition aircraft as well as Iraqi aircraft had been accounted for.

Iraq's government relies on a US-led coalition and Iranian-backed Shiite militias in its fight against Daesh, which is occupying a third of the country as well as parts of neighbouring Syria.

Daesh militants seized Ramadi last month and the city is a focal point of coalition efforts to slow the group's advances in Iraq.

On Thursday, Daesh insurgents fired mortars at a barracks in the town of Amiriyat Al Falluja, also in Anbar, killing a soldier and a policeman, police sources said.

Insurgents also attacked the village of Al Mazra'a with mortars, killing five members of the Iraqi security forces.