Iraqi special forces, also known as its counterterrorism forces, have secured the largely agricultural southern neighbourhood of Naymiyah under cover of USA -led coalition airstrikes, Lt. Gen. Abdel Wahab al-Saadi said.
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Fighters battling to retake Fallujah from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group say they have secured its southern edge and have nearly completely encircled the whole Iraqi city.
Reports coming out of the area also say the terrorists are using the residents of Fallujah as human shields to slow down the advance of Iraqi armed forces.
On Sunday, elite Iraqi forces were battling IS on the southern edge of Fallujah, in the Jbeil and Shuhada neighbourhoods.
The Hashed al-Shaabi taking part in the Fallujah operation is an umbrella organisation that includes Sunni tribal fighters but is dominated by powerful Tehran-backed Shiite militias.
Around 50,000 civilians are trapped in the city center, according to Iraqi officials.
“Most of the remains belonged to military personnel who were detained and killed by [IS fighters]”, one military official told dpa on condition of anonymity.
About 30 miles west of Baghdad, Fallujah has become a relentless target of conflict since the USA invaded Iraq over a decade ago.
Displaced Iraqis, who fled the al-Falahat village west of Fallujah due to fighting between Iraqi government forces and Daesh, wait to receive food and aid at the village of al-Azraqiyah, on June 4, 2016.
Despite fierce fighting and thousands of booby-traps set in rural areas around the city, the troops have made progress and by Saturday had made their way inside the city from the southern hub, military officers said.
An exhausted and ill-equipped Iraqi army faces daunting obstacles on the battlefield that will most likely delay for months a long-planned major offensive on the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, U.S. and allied officials say.
“Of course, we will go in and rid the city from the evil of this cancerous gland, with nobody preventing us”, he said, when asked what would happen if civilians managed to flee the Sunni city. That unit has been fighting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) for almost two years and has reclaimed territory from the insurgents in Baiji and Mosul with the help of Shi’ite militias.
“They don’t like outsiders very much in Fallujah – and outsiders are generally not very effective at policing in Fallujah”, said Mr Knights.
Rajeh Barakat, a member of the Anbar provincial council, confirmed the discovery.
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Muntadhar, commander of a group of fighters with the Iraqi paramilitary forces, told the Middle East Eye: “The land is totally planted (with roadside bombs)”.
