Baghdad – Militants unleashed a wave of attacks targeting commercial areas in and around Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 17 people, officials said as Iraqi troops poised recapture the Islamic State-held city of Fallujah, west of Iraq’s capital.
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On Monday, army units were “steadily advancing” to Falluja’s southern outskirts under air cover from a US-led coalition helping to fight against the militants, according to a military statement read out on state TV. He described the clashes as “fierce”, with IS deploying snipers and releasing a volley of mortar rounds on the Iraqi forces.
The operation to recapture Fallujah, which is located 65 kilometers west of Baghdad, was first announced last week.
Even though the Islamic State still holds Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the crown jewel of cities under its control, Fallujah’s loss would nevertheless be a significant blow to the extremist group.
An estimated 50,000 civilians are trapped in awful conditions as the Iraqi forces are poised to retake the Iraqi city of Fallujah from the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIL) terrorist group.
Iraqi special forces advanced to the edge of Fallujah on Monday but struggled to enter the city, where Islamic State extremists were said to be amassing civilians to serve as human shields, Reuters reports.
Eight were killed and 21 wounded when a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives near a government building and a police station in Tarmiya, a predominantly Sunni suburb north of Baghdad.
Local ground forces backed by U.S.-led military aircraft launched an operation Monday to storm the ISIS stronghold of Fallujah, officials told NBC News.
“The troops have been recommended to respect families and treat them gently”, said Hadi al-Amiri, the Shiite militia commander who also heads the Badr Organization political party while overseeing operations outside Fallujah.
The fighting on Monday followed battles a day earlier that prompted a new exodus of thousands of desperate civilians from the surrounding areas and deep concern for the many more trapped in the battlegrounds. More than 24 people died in the Shiite-dominated city, as a outcome of three different attacks.
Al-Abadi called on residents of Fallujah to either leave the city or stay indoors. “With every moment that passes, their need for safe exits becomes more critical”, said Nasr Muflahi, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Iraq director. The toll could rise further, the source said adding that the victims were being rushed to a nearby hospital.
In Amriyat Al Fallujah, a government-controlled town to the south of the city, civilians trickled in, starving and exhausted after walking through the countryside for hours at night, dodging ISIL surveillance.
The city, about 45 miles west of Baghdad, has a history of nurturing armed Islamist groups.
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Government troops and allied militias have now been fighting for months to reclaim key cities and towns in Anbar from IS militants, who have been attempting to advance toward Baghdad after seizing most of Anbar province.
