Iraq's army storms centre of ISIL-held Ramadi

Iraq's military fought its way into the centre of a key ISIL-held city on Tuesday in a major operation to oust the armed group that seized control of Ramadi in May.

The attack on the capital of Anbar province began on Tuesday morning, a spokesman for the army's counter-terrorism unit told AFP news agency.

"We went into the centre of Ramadi from several fronts and we began purging residential areas. The city will be cleared in the coming 72 hours," said Sabah al-Noman. "We did not face strong resistance, only snipers and suicide bombers and this is a tactic we expected."

Ramadi is a crucial city in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and its capture by the group was seen as a major defeat, Al Jazeera's Imran Khan reported.

"It's the biggest city in Iraq's largest province and the heartland of the Sunni community of Iraq. It's a big trading post for the country as well with roads leading into Jordan and Syria."

Ramadi's fall was the government's biggest setback since ISIL fighters swept through areas in the country's north and west - including Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul - in the summer of 2014.

At the start of Tuesday's offensive, ISIL mounted an attack with a suicide car bomber against soldiers and Shia militiamen gathered in Bu Dhiyab village north of Ramadi, killing 14 of them, military sources told Al Jazeera.

Another 17 soldiers and militiamen were wounded in the blast.

In a separate incident, at least eight civilians, including several children, were killed in a series of air strikes on a residential area north of Ramadi, the sources said...
  aljazeera.com with Reuters
23/12/15
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