AIRSTRIKE KILLS 25 MILITANTS

A gunmen patrol during clashes with Iraqi security forces in Fallujah, Iraq. Clashes continued late Sunday and early morning Monday between al-Qaida and Iraqi troops on the main highway that links the capital, Baghdad, to neighboring Syria and Jordan. Al-Qaida fighters and allied tribes are still controlling the center of the city where they are deployed in streets and around government buildings.
 
Iraqi soldiers and journalists donate blood for victims of military operations in Anbar Province at the journalists syndicate Baghdad, Iraq. Iraqi security forces and allies from Sunni tribes have been battling militants to recapture two key cities in Iraq's western Anbar province. Al-Qaida-linked group, known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, are controlling the center of Fallujah and part of Ramadi.
 
Security forces and civilians gather at a crater caused by a suicide car bomb attack in Kirkuk, 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014. Police said a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden truck into a police station, killing and wounding scores of people in the northern city, home to a mix of Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen, each of the ethnic groups has competing claims to the oil-rich area.

Iraq's defense ministry spokesman says a government airstrike has killed 25 al-Qaida militants in a besieged province west of Baghdad.

Tuesday's strike comes amid fierce clashes between Iraqi special forces and insurgents in a battle for control of the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi in Sunni-dominated Anbar province.

Gen. Mohammed al-Askari says the Iraqi air force struck the operations center for the terror network in the provincial capital of Ramadi, killing the 25 suspects inside. He didn't give more details about how the death toll was confirmed but cited intelligence reports.