Iraqi security forces on Saturday tightened their grip around the city of Fallujah and freed some areas from Islamic State (IS) militants after fierce clashes, a security source said.
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“The army opened a safe corridor for families fleeing from Fallujah through Al-Salam intersection”, an officer with the Joint Operations Command supervising the fight against ISIS said.
Fears continue however for the estimated 90,000 civilians who could still be trapped in Fallujah, with little access to food, water and healthcare, and no safe exit routes.
Around 24,000 people have fled from ISIL since Iraqi forces launch an offensive on Fallujah on May 22 but very few have been able to leave the centre of the city where the fanatics are using civilians as human shields.
Fighting on a range of fronts in both Iraq and Syria in recent weeks amounts to some of the biggest pressure on the militants since they swept across much of Iraq and Syria in 2014 and declared their rule over all Muslims from territory that is home to millions of people.
However, advance in southern Fallujah was slowed by IS militants resistance inside the city, with hundreds of hidden bombs believed to be planted by them. He did not give a number for the civilians who were able to flee so far using it. Several have died in their attempts to escape, including some who drowned in makeshift rafts trying to cross the Euphrates.
A government official said ISIS militants are putting up a tough fight defending the city that stands as a symbol of the Sunni insurgency that followed the US occupation of Iraq, in 2003.
Since then, Iraqi forces have made modest gains, capturing a handful of villages on the eastern bank of the river Tigris. “Our forces are more than happy to help those civilians and assist them to find a safe haven away from ISIS atrocities”, the Peshmerga official said.
Fallujah was the first Iraqi city to fall to ISIS in 2014, due in part to a sympathetic Sunni population that faced persecution from the Shia-led government in Baghdad.
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Last week, an armored brigade was deployed to Makhmour, along with boats and bridges to enable troops to cross the Tigris river to the Islamic State hub of Qayara on its western bank.
