The Iraqi air force struck back at the militant group ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, killing more than 200 militants, Iraqi state TV reported Monday morning. The air raids took place in Saqlawiyah, northwest of Fallujah, according to a graphic run by state TV.
ISIS has been ruthlessly fighting to take control of Iraq and has apparently posted chilling photos on jihadi Internet forums seeming to show the executions of Iraqi security forces.
We cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the images purportedly posted by ISIS. Examining the terrain in the images, some of the signage on buildings in several of the pictures and the uniforms of the apparent victims. Those details suggest the photos are real and were taken in Iraq.
A caption on some of the images reads: "apostates heading to their hole of doom."
ISIS, an al Qaeda splinter group, wants to establish a caliphate, or Islamic state, that would stretch from Iraq into northern Syria. The group has had substantial success in Syria battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's security forces.
On Friday, a tweet on what was claimed to be an ISIS Twitter account claimed that its members killed at least 1,700 Shiites. CNN was unable to verify the authenticity of the account, and the account appeared to have been taken down Sunday.
In a statement, the U.S. State Department condemned the claim by ISIS, also known as ISIL, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
"The claim by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) that it has massacred 1700 Iraqi Shia air force recruits in Tikrit is horrifying and a true depiction of the bloodlust that these terrorists represent. While we cannot confirm these reports, one of the primary goals of ISIL is to set fear into the hearts of all Iraqis and drive sectarian division among its people," part of the statement read. "Terrorists who can commit such heinous acts are a shared enemy of the United States, Iraq, and the international community. "
The militants' quick advance in Iraq has been helped by many Sunnis who feel that the Shiite-dominated government has marginalized them.
ISIS seized Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, last week and has threatened to march on Baghdad, Iraq's capital and largest city.
But "Mosul didn't fall," a defiant Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told military leaders in Baghdad in a speech televised Sunday on state TV. "The ones who have fallen are the politicians who have bet against Iraq." The Prime Minister said, "We will not allow anyone to divide the Iraqi people."
Al-Maliki called on his top brass and soldiers to march and fight against ISIS, while criticizing Iraqi politicians conspiring against their homeland and Iraqi soldiers who have refused to continue to fight when confronted by ISIS.
"We will march on every inch, with all our weapons, with all our will and faith, so we can liberate and cleanse every inch of Iraq -- from the southernmost point to the furthest point in the north," he exhorted the military leaders.
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