Iraqi troops and allied tribesmen killed 57 Islamist militants in Anbar province on Monday, the Defence Ministry said, in advance of a possible assault on the Sunni rebel-held city of Falluja.
There was no independent verification of the toll among the militants, said to be members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a jihadi group also fighting in Syria.
ISIL militants and other Sunni groups angered by the Shi’ite-led government overran Falluja and parts of the nearby city of Ramadi in the western province of Anbar on January 1.