BAGHDAD, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Three Islamic State (IS) militants were killed on Saturday and their hideout destroyed in a U.S.-led coalition airstrike in Iraq's northern province of Kirkuk, the Iraqi military said.

Acting upon precise information from the intelligence directorate of the federal police, the U.S.-led coalition aircraft pounded an IS hideout in the area of Wadi al-Karha, southwest Kirkuk city which is located some 250 km north of Baghdad, the media office of the Joint Operations Command said in a statement.

The airstrike resulted in the killing of three IS militants and the destruction of the hideout, the statement said.

The security situation in Iraq was dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces fully defeated the extremist IS militants across the country late in 2017.

IS remnants, however, have since melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas as safe havens, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians.