BAGHDAD, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Air Force has carried out an airstrike on a command center of the Islamic State (IS) militants inside Syria near the border with Iraq, the Iraqi military said Thursday.

"The Iraqi F-16 fighter jets carried out a successful airstrike inside Syrian territories targeting an operation command site of terrorist IS group, and it was completely destroyed," the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said in a brief statement, without saying when and where the airstrike took place.

The airstrike also killed a number of IS militants, who were planning for attacks with explosive belts against innocent people in the coming days inside Iraq, according to the statement.

The airstrike was ordered by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is also the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, based on accurate intelligence reports, the statement added.

Previously, the Iraqi air force had carried out such preemptive airstrikes against IS militants inside Syria with F-16 fighter jets.

On April 26, Abadi pledged to continue airstrikes on the IS positions and headquarters in Syria, while asserting that Iraq will not interfere in Syrian affairs.

On Dec. 9, 2017, Abadi officially declared full liberation of Iraq from IS militants after Iraqi forces recaptured all the areas once seized by the extremist group.