Photos of Iraqi government attacks on Sunni cities of Ramadi and Fallouja. The Islamic State group captured Ramadi, the provincial capital, in mid-May.
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The militants then used 12 roadside bombs to ambush a relief convoy attempting to reinforce the southern side of the complex.
Iraqi security forces pose after regaining control of the… The fall of Ramadi was the latest defeat on the ground calling into question the Obama administration’s hopes of relying exclusively on airstrikes to support the Iraqi forces in expelling the extremists.
Later Wednesday, a suicide bomber drove a Humvee toward army and paramilitary forces near Fallujah, killing six troops and wounding four, officials said. A total of 45 people were killed and 83 wounded on Wednesday in clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants and air strikes by Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition aircraft, security sources said, APA reports quoting Xinhua.
First, back-to-back suicide bombers rammed their Humvees into Iraqi forces stationed outside of the University of Ramadi complex near the Islamic State-held city of Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar, killing at least 12 troops in that attack, two officials said.
Following Wednesday’s blasts, clashes also erupted southwest of Ramadi, killing 14 militants while leaving one soldier dead and eight others wounded, the officials added.
The university, 3 miles south of Anbar’s provincial capital, the militant-held city of Ramadi, was under the full control of government forces, which had entered the complex early Sunday amid intense combat with the militant group.
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Meanwhile, a suicide truck bomber struck a military base housing Iraqi soldiers and Hashd Shaabi militiamen in Deraa Dijla area in northeastern the IS-seized city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, killing nine soldiers and militiamen and wounding 15 others, the source said. The loss of Ramadi in mid-May recalled the collapse of Iraqi security forces last summer in the face of the Islamic State group’s blitz into Iraq that saw it capture a third of the country, where it has declared an Islamic caliphate. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profitto those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
