Iraqi forces have advanced into the center of Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's western province of Anbar, according to an Iraqi security official, AFP have just reported.
Russian federal Drug Control Service Director Viktor Ivanov has said that IS is receiving from $200- $500 million a year from sales of heroin from Afghanistan in Europe.
Most of the heroin is trafficked via Turkey, Ivanov claimed.
Nine Students Killed In IS Shelling In Deir al-Zor
IS militants have shelled a school district in a government-held area of Deir al-Zor city in eastern Syria this morning, killing at least nine students and wounding around 20 other people, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
SOHR said that the death toll was likely to rise.
Syrian state news agency SANA is reporting that nine female students were killed in the shelling of a school in the Harabesh neighborhood.
The BBC has more on the reports that Iraqi forces have now advanced into the center of Ramadi city.
The BBC is quoting the spokesman for Iraq's Counter-Terrorism Service, Sabah al-Numani, as saying that Iraqi troops and militiamen are advancing toward the main government complex in the center of the town.
Ramadi fell to IS in May.
Analyst Michael Horowitz has this to say about the Iraq army's push this morning to retake the center of Ramadi from IS militants: IS are likely to put up a tough fight and to have prepared counter-attacks including booby traps.
Reuters has another quote from Sabah al-Numani, spokesman for Iraq's Counter-Terrorism units, who says that there is fighting in the neighborhoods around the government complex in the center of Ramadi.
"Our forces are advancing toward the government complex in the center of Ramadi," Numani said. "The fighting is in the neighborhoods around the complex, with support from the air force."
Iraqi intelligence estimates the number of Islamic State fighters entrenched in the center of Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, at between 250 and 300.
Tajikistan's Foreign Ministry has said that it has not yet considered the question of whether to join the Islamic coalition against the IS group proposed by Saudi Arabia.
"Tajikistan is currently thoroughly considering Saudi Arabia's proposal on this matter, and after that a decision will be made," the Foreign Ministry told RFE/RL's Tajik service.
The Foreign Ministry's comments come a day after the pan-Arabic newspaper Asharq Alawsat reported that Tajikistan was considering joining the Saudi-led Islamic coalition.
Saudi Arabia announced the formation of a coalition on December 15.
Police in Bosnia have detained 11 people suspected of links with the IS group in Syria and Iraq, AP reports.
Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz has said that Iraqi training personnel are to remain in a military camp near the IS-controlled Iraqi city of Mosul to continue to fight the IS group, the Daily Sabah news website is reporting.
Britain said this morning that it has sent military personnel to the southern Afghanistan province of Helmand following reports that the district capital Sangin was on the verge of falling to Taliban forces.