US-led coalition strikes supporting Iraqi forces in the recapture of Fallujah have killed 70 Islamic State militants including the group’s commander in the city, a U.S. military spokesman says.
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Over the past 24 hours, coalition aircraft launched four strikes around Fallujah, targeting three separate Islamic State units, two tunnels, four vehicles, an artillery piece, a weapons cache and three fighting positions, U.S. Central Command announced Thursday.
Retaking it promises to be a major challenge for the country’s beleaguered security forces.
The NRC, which assists refugees at a camp south of Falluja, said the fighting made it hard to assess the full extent of “the dire situation in the city”. The city has been under ISIS control since January 2014, and residents are said to be fearful of what happens when the overwhelmingly Shi’ite force invades the nearly exclusively Sunni city.
Iraqi military officials insisted that safe corridors would be established to allow civilians to flee, but residents said ISIL checkpoints along the city’s main roads have made escape almost impossible.
Popular Mobilization would only go in the city if the army’s attack fails, he said.
Anti-government fighters seized Fallujah in early 2014, and the city later became an IS stronghold.
So-called Islamic State militants who control the city have imposed a curfew and its residents have been forbidden from leaving their homes.
Wearing military fatigues, Amiri spoke to state-TV from the operations area with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi standing by his side in the black uniform of Iraq’s counter-terrorism force.
The news comes five days after several news outlets reported that a local official said that airstrikes had killed the so-called “Wilayah Fallujah”, Mr al-Bilawi, on 22 May, east of the city of Ramadi.
“We are receiving distressing reports of civilians trapped inside Falluja who are desperate to escape to safety, but cannot” said Lise Grande.
IS fighters have used civilians as human shields in the past, in some cases forcing families to flee with retreating fighters.
Despite plans before the operation for safe corridors, few civilians have managed to flee the Fallujah battle in recent days. “Medicines are exhausted and many families have no choice but to rely on dirty and unsafe water sources”, said Ms. Grande. Hundreds of people fled on Friday as humanitarian conditions rapidly deteriorated, with Iraqi forces continuing to surround the city, determined to flush out the ISIL fighters inside.
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On Wednesday, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most influential Shiite cleric, urged the forces advancing on Falluja to show restraint and observe Islamic ethics of war.
