A total of 25 security members were killed and some 22 others wounded in clashes between Iraqi forces and militants in south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Saturday, a police source said.

Fierce clashes took place during the day near the towns of Jurf al-Sakhar, some 50 km south of Baghdad, and Mahmoudiyah, 30 km south of Baghdad, as well as the town of al-Rasheed, just south of Baghdad, between the security forces and Sunni militants, including those who are linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL), an al-Qaida offshoot, the source from Babil province, where the areas located, told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The battles also resulted in the killing and wounding of dozens of the militants.

The areas of the battles are part of a restive area, dubbed as Triangle of Death, which is a cluster of towns scattered north of Babil's provincial capital city of Hilla, some 100 km south of Baghdad.

Iraq has been witnessing its worst security conditions that began more than two weeks ago when armed Sunni insurgents, spearheaded by the al-Qaida splinter group ISIL, launched a surprise offensive that led to the debacle of Iraqi security forces, and the fallen of a large part of the country's northern and western territories.

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