Fighters from the Shiite Badr Brigades militia patrol at the front line, in Kessarrat, (70 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq.
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Islamic State (IS) militants have attacked Iraqi security forces near the two main cities of the western province of Anbar.
On Friday, the terrorists launched a raid on the town of Khalidiyah with mortars and vehicle bomb attacks, Anbar councilman Athal al-Fahdawi said.
He added that the ISIS fighters were forced to retreat after an hour-long battle, leaving behind 12 dead fighters. Some were hiding in houses in a nearby village.
Police and army officers said at least 10 soldiers were killed.
But a USA official, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested a lack of Iraqi army control of militia activities in Falluja would prevent the kind of air support for the campaign that the United States has offered elsewhere in Iraq.
Arbil: Iraqi Shiite militia fighters are tightening a noose around the Daesh-held city of Fallujah west of Baghdad as the first stage of a counter-offensive in the Sunni province of Anbar, likely to determine the course of the conflict in coming months.
Meanwhile, a representative for Iraq’s most senior Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, called on regional countries to take “decisive measures” to stop the flow of foreign militants into Iraq.
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Foreign fighters have been streaming into Syria and Iraq by the thousands to join IS and other extremist groups.
