DUSHANBE, February 18, 2015, Asia-Plus – International media sources report jihadist militants from Islamic State (IS) have burned to death 45 people in the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi.

The local police chief, Colonel Qasim al-Obeidi, was cited as saying that some of those killed were members of the security forces.

IS militants reportedly captured much of the town, near Ain al-Asad air base, last week.

According to the BBC, Colonel Obeidi said yesterday that a compound that houses the families of security personnel and local officials was now under attack.  He pleaded for help from the government and the international community.

The BBC says the fighting and poor communications in the area make it difficult to confirm such reports.

Earlier this month, IS published a video showing militants burning alive a Jordanian air force pilot, whose plane crashed in Syria in December.

Al-Baghdadi had been besieged for months by Islamic State militants before its fall on February 12.

It had been one of the few towns to still be controlled by the Iraqi government in Anbar province, where IS and allied Sunni Arab tribesmen launched an offensive in January 2014.

Ain al-Asad air base, where about 320 US Marines are training members of the Iraqi army''s 7th Division, is only 8 kilometers away.

The base was itself attacked by IS militants, among them several suicide bombers, on February 13.  The militants were eventually repelled by Iraqi troops backed by US-led coalition aircraft.