BAGHDAD — “Islamic State” militants detonated a car bomb and then opened fire on Iraqi troops in the western province of Anbar on Thursday, killing 14 soldiers, security sources said.

Iraqi government forces and their Shi’a militia allies are hoping to recapture Anbar’s provincial capital, Ramadi, which was seized by the terrorist group last month.

Twenty-seven soldiers were also wounded in Thursday’s attack in Anbar’s Nadheem al-Taqseem region.

In the town of Hit, west of Ramadi, artillery fire and rocket attacks targeted the local irrigation department, killing nine people and wounding 13.

The defense ministry said in a statement that security forces killed three ISIS militants and a sniper in the district of Garma.

Security forces also killed four militants attempting to enter the country’s biggest refinery, near Baiji, said the ministry. The complex, a focal point in government efforts to contain ISIS, has changed hands several times.