LONDON – British air strikes have killed nearly 1,000 fighters of the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Syria and Iraq in the past 18 months, according to new figures issued by Ministry of Defence. Figures released under Freedom of Information laws revealed 974 militants were killed in Royal Air Force (RAF) strikes in Iraq between September 2014, when the British bombing campaign began, and last month. Another 22 were killed in Syria between January and March this year, following the decision by the British parliament to extend the mission to Syria in December. “Our records show that there were no civilian casualties for the period in question,” the Ministry of Defence said in a statement released late Friday. The ministry said that the numbers are estimates “based on post-strike analysis”, noting that Britain “is not in a position to visit strike sites and verify the numbers of enemy killed”. Britain is part of a US-led coalition fighting the IS group, which holds swathes of territory across Iraq and Syria and which claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks in November and Brussels attacks in March.