BAGHDAD – Iraqi military forces today retook a strategic government complex in the city of Ramadi from the so-called Islamic State militants who have occupied the city since May.
Military spokesman General Yahya Rasool initially announced that Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, had been “fully liberated.”
But General Ismail al-Mahlawi, head of military operations in Anbar, quickly clarified that government forces had only retaken a strategic government complex and that parts of the city remained under IS control.
IS fighters have retreated from about 70 per cent of city, but still control the rest and government forces still don’t fully control many of the districts from which the IS fighters have retreated.
The Iraqi military launched a long-promised campaign to retake the city, about 130 kilometres west of Baghdad, last week.
Their progress had been hampered by snipers, booby traps and the destruction by IS militants of all bridges leading into Ramadi.
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