Islamic State Says It Shot Down Iraqi Fighter Plane

Baghdad: Islamic State said on Thursday it had shot down an Iraqi fighter plane north of the city of Ramadi in Anbar Province.

It was not immediately possible to independently confirm the claim made on one of Islamic State's Twitter accounts. A member of an anti-Islamic State Sunni force called Sahwa (Awakening) said an Iraqi fighter jet, a Russian-made Su-25, was seen in flames as it crashed after being shot down north of Ramadi.

Iraq's government relies on a U.S.-led coalition and Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias in its fight against Islamic State, which holds a third of the country as well as parts of neighbouring Syria.

The Islamic State Twitter site said the fighter jet had been shot down as it conducted a raid on areas north of Ramadi, the provincial capital of Sunni heartland Anbar.

Islamic State militants seized Ramadi last month and the city is a focal point of efforts to slow the group's advances in Iraq, a major oil producer and OPEC member.