BAGHDAD: The Iraqi military says a general has been killed during an operation west of the capital, Baghdad.

Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Saad Maan Ibrahim says Iraqi army 6th Division commander Maj. Gen. Najim Abdullah Ali was overseeing a raid Monday outside the village of Karma when a mortar round exploded nearby, killing him.

The 6th division is deployed in the Sunni-dominated areas west of Baghdad, which is one of the most active fronts in the government’s fight against militants led by the Islamic State extremist group.

The Sunni militants seized control of the city of Fallujah, near Karma, and parts of the provincial capital of Ramadi in January.

The government has since reasserted its control of Ramadi, but Fallujah remains in insurgent hands.