A senior Iraqi general was killed in fighting with terrorist groups close to Baghdad on Monday, as the army fights to hold militants back from the capital.

A senior Iraqi general was killed in fighting with terrorist groups close to Baghdad on Monday, as the army fights to hold militants back from the capital.

Major General Negm Abdullah Ali, commander of the army's sixth division, responsible for defending part of Baghdad, "met martyrdom on the battlefield as he was fighting ... terrorists", Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in a statement.

Ali was killed "when mortar rounds fell" in the Ibrahim Bin Ali area, about 16 km (10 miles) northwest of Baghdad, the office of Maliki's military spokesman said later.

Ibrahim Bin Ali has been fought over for months.

Security forces have been in a standoff with armed terrorists of the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (also dubbed as ISIL) in the area since the city of Fallujah, some 70 km (45 miles) west of Baghdad, was overrun by earlier this year.