Al-Obeidi said Iraqi troops control 80 percent of the city, with Islamic State fighters concentrated in four districts on its northern edge.
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Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi says Iraqi security forces have retaken most of Fallujah from the extremist Islamic State (IS) group.
Fighting was still under way in parts of the city, where USA and Iraqi warplanes targeted snipers and other Islamic State positions, said Brig. Gen.
Security officials said elite counterterrorism forces and two army divisions advanced on June 18 from the northern refinery town of Baiji towards an airfield near Qayara, which they hope to take and use as a staging ground to retake Mosul.
In the central province of Salahuddin, where the Islamic State suffered a major defeat a year ago when it lost former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, government forces pushed north of the province toward Islamic State territory, Brig.
Military operations were ongoing in Fallujah, with the air force hitting targets in the city including IS snipers positioned near the main hospital, Brig.
The ancient mosque town of Fallujah, in Al Anbar province of Iraq, was one of the first towns to be occupied by the ISIS, in early 2014.
Iraq’s second-largest city of Mosul is still under IS control.
Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi, the commander of the operation, said that special forces were continuing their push to force the last remaining IS fighters out of the city.
“In the last 24 hours, more than 2,300 families have actually managed to leave Fallujah, and to be honest, there’s very little space for them in Amariyat al-Fallujah, Habbaniyah Tourit City and Khaldiyah, which is where they are escaping to”.
Abadi announced the recapture of the city of Ramadi, Anbar’s provincial capital, in December but the security forces only established full control over the city in February. “We’re down to the bare minimum of three litres per person, and we’re not really sure how long we can continue to do that”.
They estimate that between 30,000 and 42,000 people have fled since then, majority staying in camps near the city and some even swimming across the Euphrates river to reach safety.
“Fallujah has returned to the nation and Mosul is the next battle, Daesh will be defeated”, he said of the Islamic State on his Twitter account.
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Officials said jihadists are fleeing the city by mingling with the civilians who are also leaving the area. Most are living in camps or informal settlements.
