BAGHDAD (AP) — A spokesman for Iraq's military says 36 Islamic State militants have been killed in Thursday's airstrikes by Iraq's air force in Syria.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool says that the airstrikes hit a location where IS militants were meeting, among other targets. Rasool added that six IS leaders were among the dead.

Hours after launching the airstrikes, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said Iraqi fighter jets had hit IS positions in an area along the border, saying they posed a threat to Iraq.

Syrian and Iraqi forces have driven IS from nearly all the territory it once held, but the extremists have maintained a presence in the remote desert areas along the border. Iraq has previously carried out airstrikes against the group in Syria.