ISIS have suffered a number of setbacks in the last few months, losing vast swathes of territory to Kurd fighters, Iraqi government forces and the Syrian army as Russian and US-led coalition step up airstrikes.
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“We are unable to confirm at this time whether or not they have cleared the government center”, a USA military official said, on condition of anonymity.
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The city is the capital of mainly Sunni Muslim Anbar province.
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In Iraq, U.S. officials have expressed frustration at how long it has taken Iraqi security forces to take back Ramadi. The Iraqi army has deployed about 10,000 troops to try to retake the provincial capital.
Ataullah Khoqani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said Afghan government forces were not involved in the incident and that the incident is being investigated.
Iraqi forces had earlier in the day surrounded the complex in the capital of the western province of Anbar.
“This is, of course, considered an achievement for the Iraqi forces given that there had been questions as to whether the forces, Iraqi police and army can take control of the situation through ground operations and resist Isis”, Mr Jiyad said.
The ISIS fighters “for sure” will try to use suicide vests once they lost hope, but the counterterrorism forces are expected to “announce the victory over ISIS militants” sometime Monday afternoon, the source said.
There was a celebratory atmosphere in Baghdad, where state television showed images of people dancing and setting off fireworks as they waved the Iraqi flag in the streets.
Iraqi troops will “need days” to get to the city’s central government complex, said al-Mahlawi, adding that the troops were about one kilometer (half mile) from the complex on Sunday. The Special Representative of U.S. President Barack Obama for the fight IS, Brett McGurk, tweeted: “our coalition is proud to support the fearless Iraqi troops, while they defeat the IS in Ramadi”.
Militants loyal to a powerful Afghan lawmaker placed the severed heads of their opponents on the side of the main road in Nangarhar, in eastern Afghanistan, local officials said on Sunday.
After Ramadi, the army plans to move to retake the northern city of Mosul, the biggest population centre under IS control in Iraq and Syria.
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Dislodging the militants from Mosul would effectively abolish their state structure in Iraq and deprive them of a major source of funding, which comes partly from oil and partly from fees and taxes on residents.
