(VOVworld) -  A US air strike has killed two "high-value" Islamic State fighters in Iraq while Iraqi security forces started clearing jihadists from Rutba town, Anbar province. 

An aircraft lands after missions targeting the Islamic State group in Iraq (Source: VOAnews)

Colonel Steve Warren, a spokesman for the US-led coalition against IS, said Wednesday that the May 13^th strike on a building killed Abu Hamza, Abu Safiya, and a third militant.

Abu Hamza was a former member of al-Qaida in Iraq, who the US thought planned and conducted attacks against Americans during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Safiya was responsible for staging chemical attacks in the Euphrates River Valley. The strike which was part of an ongoing US-led anti-IS campaign across Iraq and Syria took place far from the town of Rutba held by IS since 2014. Warren said about 1,000 Iraqi troops had spent weeks preparing to retake the town.