The Iraqi security forces withdrew from their positions on the Iraqi-Syrian border in the volatile Sunni province of Anbar, while the militant groups made a new push toward the Iraqi capital of Baghdad from the west and the north of the city, security sources said on Thursday.

In Anbar province, the Iraqi army, police and border guards withdrew late on Wednesday night from their positions on the border with Syria near the city of Qaim, some 330 km northwest of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Immediately after the troops withdrawal, Sunni tribal leaders of the city announced forming a force from their militants and the local police force to take control of the border and the city, the source said.

Also in the province, Sunni militants swept a major military base of the al-Mazraa just west of the militant-seized city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, after the army soldiers withdrew suddenly overnight toward Baghdad, the source said.

The gunmen also seized large amounts of vehicles, weapons and ammunition from the base, the source added.

Meanwhile, militants seized the battlefield-town of Saqlawiyah, 10 km south of Fallujah, after an overnight fighting with the troops who left their bases around the town and headed toward Baghdad, he said.

In Salahudin province, Iraqi security forces still seizing in the city of Samarra, some 120 km north of Baghdad, while fighting with militant groups, including the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, an al-Qaida breakaway group in Iraq, around the city, a local police source told Xinhua.

Late on Wednesday, the militants gained new cities and towns in Salahudin province, including the provincial capital Tikrit and some other cities and towns.

The security deterioration in Iraq started last week when bloody clashes broke out between the Iraqi security forces and hundreds of gunmen who took control of several neighborhoods in western part of Mosul and expanded later to others areas after the Iraqi security forces withdrew from the city. 

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