Baghdad, May 24 (IANS): The Islamic State (IS) militants on Sunday took control of Iraq's Al-Walid border crossing point with Syria.
"The IS militants have seized Anbar province's Al-Walid crossing early in the morning after the withdrawal of Iraqi forces," a security source told Xinhua news agency.
The troops' withdrawal came after heavy clashes with the IS militants who carried out an attack from Al-Tanf border crossing on the Syrian side, the source said, adding that the extremist militants used suicide car bombs in their attacks on the Iraqi side.
The Al-Tanf border was seized last week.
The IS group has seized most of Anbar province and tried to advance toward Baghdad during the past few months, but was repelled by the security forces and allied Shia and Sunni militias, known as Hashd Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation.