Charles Ventura

USA TODAY

Airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State rocked the extremist group near the Iraqi city of Fallujah on Wednesday, killing at least 250 suspected militants and destroying at least 40 vehicles, according to media reports.

The reported strikes occurred south of the city, and are just the latest setback for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, which continues to suffer devastating defeats just two years after capturing large swaths of Iraq.

An unnamed U.S. defense official told FOX News that a convoy of ISIL fighters was hit as they tried to leave a neighborhood on the outskirts of Fallujah. Reuters first reported the air assault.

The airstrikes come a day after three suicide bombers blasted Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, killing at least 42 people and leaving more than 230 wounded. Initial indications suggest ISIL was behind the deadly terrorist attack.

CIA director: Attack at Istanbul airport has hallmarks of Islamic State, could happen in U.S.

"I am worried from the standpoint of an intelligence professional who looks at the capabilities of Daesh … and their determination to kill as many as people as possible and to carry out attacks abroad," said CIA Director John Brennan, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL, in an interview with Yahoo! News on Wednesday. "I’d be surprised if Daesh is not trying to carry out that kind of attack in the United States."

The Islamic State has lost about 45% of the territory it controlled at its peak last year in Iraq and about 20% of what it once occupied in Syria, the Pentagon has said.

“ISIL fighters are panicking on the battlefield, foreign recruits are now looking to return home, and leaders are struggling to maintain discipline, even despite the threat of execution for disobedience,” Brett McGurk, a special envoy to the coalition against the Islamic State, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this week.

Istanbul airport attack: What we know

Contributing: Jim Michaels and Melanie Eversley