Iraqi army repels attack on base hosting US Marines: Officials

BAGHDAD - Iraqi security forces on Friday repelled an attack by Islamic State insurgents against an air base in Anbar province where US Marines are training Iraqi troops, Iraqi and US military officials said.

Militants from the jihadist group had attacked the Ain al-Asad base and the nearby town of al-Baghdadi a day earlier, leading to sporadic clashes in the town overnight.

Al-Baghdadi has been besieged for months by Islamic State, which captured swathes of northern and western Iraq last year, prompting a campaign of US-led air strikes and the deployment of hundreds of US military advisers to the country.

A US defence official said the Iraqi forces had stopped the attack and re-secured the facility. "Coalition forces were several kilometres from the attack and at no stage were they under direct threat from this action,"the official said.

About 320 US Marines are training members of the Iraqi 7th Division at the base, which has been struck by mortar fire on at least one previous occasion since December.

Iraq's Defence Ministry said on its website the Iraqi army killed eight assailants near the base, which is about 85 km (50 miles) northwest of Ramadi.

An Iraqi military official in Baghdad told Reuters the insurgents had taken advantage of a lull in the air strikes caused by poor weather to launch the offensive.

He said Islamic State had been cleared from most of al-Baghdadi, with the remaining fighting centred around a police station.

That conflicted with reports from a tribal leader who said the jihadists were still in control of much of the town.

Ongoing clashes and poor communications in the area made it difficult to confirm such reports.