Acting on intelligence reports, the US-led coalition aircraft carried out an airstrike on a tunnel used by IS militants as a hideout in Ayn al-Jahesh area in south the provincial capital Mosul, the media office of the Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in a statement.

Four extremist IS militants were killed in the airstrike which was conducted in coordination with Nineveh's Operations Command, the statement said.

Also in the province, Iraqi security forces conducted an operation in the village of Um Haram in west of Mosul, killing two IS militants and confiscating an explosive belt and a assault rifle, as well as their vehicle and motorcycle, the JOC said in a separate statement.

The security situation in Iraq was dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces fully defeated the extremists IS militants across the country late in 2017.

IS remnants, however, have since melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas as safe havens, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians.