“This, of course, won’t completely cause the enemy to stop fighting, but it’s a blow”.
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Maher al-Bilawi, commander of Islamic State fighters in Falluja, was killed two days ago, Warren said.
But thousands of anti-corruption demonstrators gathered again on Friday in central Baghdad, prompting security forces to fire tear gas and rubber bullets as they tried to approach the heavily fortified Green Zone.
“Our troops are now in the process of surrounding the city from all (sides)”, said Lt. General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, the head of the counterterrorism forces’ Fallujah operation.
More than 50,000 people remain in the center of the Sunni majority city, which has been under control of the extremist group for more than two years.
The Iraqi government has dropped leaflets on the city, asking them to leave or mark their houses via white sheets, while the government works on evacuation routes.
Civilians inspect damage at a home after a bombing in Fallujah, 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, May 26, 2016.
The resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said after living for weeks on rice, canned food and processed cheese, those stocks were beginning to run low.
BAGHDAD (AP) – The spiritual leader of Iraq’s Shiites has called on Iraqi forces battling to retake the city of Fallujah from Islamic State militants to protect civilians trapped there. IS later captured the second-largest city of Mosul and then swept toward Baghdad in a blitz that seized almost a third of Iraq territory.
“It causes other leadership to have to move around”, he said.
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Falluja is a bastion of the insurgency that fought the USA occupation of Iraq and the Shi’ite-led authorities that replaced Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, a Sunni. In past operations, Shiite forces have been accused of human rights abuses against Sunni civilians. The U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said there is “a great risk” to about 50,000 civilians estimated by the U.N.to still be in Fallujah, underlining the necessity of having “some safe corridors that they could use”.
