The city of Rawa, some 275 km northwest of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, and the nearby city of Aanah, are under the control of the Sunni militants who seized the police stations and government offices in the two cities without fighting late on Saturday, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Later on Saturday night, the Sunni gunmen, including those who are linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL), an al- Qaida offshoot, took control of the city of Rutba, some 370 km west of Baghdad, the source said.
The insurgent groups also seized Albu Haiyat area and the small town of Jubba near the city of Hadithah, some 200 km northwest of Baghdad, as they are preparing for an attack to enter Hadithah, the source said.
Reinforcement troops have arrived in Hadithah since the early hours of the day, in an attempt to stop the march of the militant groups, the source said.
- Early on Saturday, the Sunni militant groups took full control of the border city of al-Qaim, some 330 northwest of Baghdad, after fierce clashes with the troops, the source said.
- Lieutenant General Qassim Atta and security spokesman of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki confirmed later on Saturday the fall of al- Qaim, but said security forces are fighting the militants in east of the city after they withdrew.
The Iraqi security forces are still controlling another border crossing point of al-Walid with Syria, as well as Tribil crossing point with Jordan, which located some 120 km west of Rutba, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan.
Iraq has seen a deteriorating security situation since June 10 when bloody clashes broke out between security forces and hundreds of Sunni militants who took control of Mosul and later seized swathes of territories after Iraqi security forces withdrew from their posts in Nineveh and other predominantly Sunni provinces.
RAMADI, Iraq, June 22 (Xinhua)
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Iraq denies ISIL took Syrian, Jordanian border towns...
ReplyDeleteANBAR, Iraq . -Reports were denied by the Iraqi Interior Ministry on Sunday that Sunni insurgents, led by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, seized two western towns near the Syrian and Jordanian border.
"Information that the cities of Tarbil and al-Waleed have been seized by ISIL militants are not true," said Iraq's Interior Ministry spokesman, Brigadier General Saad Maan, in a press statement.
According to Maan, security forces are in control of the Iraqi borders with Jordan and Syria.
Local sources in the western province of Anbar reported that the majority of Iraqi guards had withdrawn from the city of Ar Rutba because of ISIL militants.
On Saturday, ISIL militants seized the towns of Rawa and Anah in the Anbar province, facing virtually no resistance after the Iraqi troops withdrew from the region.
ISIL seized on June 10 Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, and soon afterwards took near-complete control of the northern cities of Tikrit and Tal Afar. It also holds control of Al-Qa’im, Rawah, Anah, Ratba and Haditha cities of the western province of Anbar.
http://www.aa.com.tr/en/rss/348457--iraq-denies-isil-took-syrian-jordanian-border-towns
Sunni militants have reportedly captured two more key border crossings, to Jordan and Syria, in western Iraq.....
ReplyDeleteThe rebels, who include Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) fighters, now control three border crossings in Anbar province, Iraq's largest.
Meanwhile, in the north, reports say the airport in the town of Tal Afar has also fallen to the rebels.
The militants' gains in large parts of western and northern Iraq have alarmed the international community.
They have taken four strategically important towns in the predominantly Sunni Anbar province - Qaim, on the Syrian border, and Rutba, Rawa and Anah - in the last two days.
Gunmen reportedly captured the border posts of al-Waleed, on the Syrian frontier, and Turaibil, on the Jordanian border, on Sunday after government forces pulled out.............http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27966774
22/6/14
Kurdish forces retake north Iraqi town from Islamic State ...
ReplyDelete(Reuters) - Kurdish forces retook the northern Iraqi town of Zumar and several nearby villages from Islamic State early on Saturday after heavy coalition air strikes against the Islamist insurgents, security sources said.
A Kurdish intelligence officer in Zumar said peshmerga forces had advanced from five directions in the early morning and encountered fierce resistance, but ultimately prevailed. A spokesman for the peshmerga ministry also said Zumar was now in Kurdish hands.
Zumar was one of the first Kurdish-controlled towns to be overrun in August by Islamic State militants who went on to threaten the autonomous region's capital, prompting air strikes by the United States - a campaign since joined by Britain and France...............http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/25/us-iraq-kurds-idUSKCN0IE0EQ20141025?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
25/10/14