Over 2,000 families flee Ramadi as clashes rage in Iraq
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E-mail Xinhua, April 17, 2015
Clashes between Islamic State (IS) militants and Iraqi forces Thursday forced over 2,000 families to flee their homes in Ramadi.
While clashes continued in Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's western province of Anbar, a major offensive attempted to recapture areas north of Tikrit, the capital of Salahudin province, from IS militants, security forces said.
The security situation in Ramadi, 110 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has deteriorated since Friday when IS militants carried out attacks and captured Albu Farraj in the northern side of Euphrates River which separates the area from Ramadi.
The extremist group spread in Ramadi Wednesday and captured Soufiyah, Albu Ghanim, Albu Mahal and Albu Souda east of the city, partially seized by IS militants for months.
Fierce battles in Ramadi displaced over 2,000 families, most of whom headed to Baghdad and settled in predominantly Sunni districts in southern and western Baghdad, an Anbar provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
In Ramadi, IS militants attacked provincial police headquarters with a car bomb, while dozens of extremist militants clashed with guards who managed to repel the militants, the source said.
The battle resulted in the death of at least three security guards and the wounding of six others, with six IS militants, including the suicide bomber killed, the source added.
Meanwhile, heavy clashes erupted in areas surrounding the provincial government compound in central Ramadi, as IS militants attempted to reach the heavily fortified compound, leaving at least seven people dead and 30 others wounded, with most of the victims being security guards, the source said.
Also in Ramadi, extremist militants planted bombs in the house of the government-backed Sahwa paramilitary group and five other houses of police officers and detonated them in Albu Souda, which the militants seized the day before during their advance into the city, the source added.
The IS group has seized parts of Iraq's largest province of Anbar and tried to advance toward Baghdad, but several counter attacks by security forces and Shiite militias have driven them away.
In Salahudin, Iraqi forces and allied Shiite and Sunni militias recaptured part of Iraq's largest oil refinery near the town of Baiji, some 200 km north of Baghdad, after killing at least 13 IS militants, a provincial security source told Xinhua.
The troops also freed two districts in the IS-held town of Baiji and raised the Iraqi flag over the court building in the town center, whilst fierce clashes were underway with IS militants, the source said.
The battles in Baiji and the nearby oil refinery were part of a large-scale operation launched Wednesday aiming to recapture areas seized by IS militants in the province of Salahudin, particularly after the militants progressed inside the huge oil facility Tuesday.
Battles in the Sunni dominated province of Salahudin took place about two weeks after Iraqi security forces regained control of Tikrit.
Since March 2, about 30,000 Iraqi troops and thousands of allied Shiite and Sunni militias have been involved in Iraq's biggest offensive to recapture the northern part of Salahudin province, including Tikrit and other key towns and villages from IS militants.
Security in Iraq has deteriorated drastically since last June, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and IS militants, who took control of the country's northern city of Mosul, later seizing swathes of territories in Nineveh and other predominantly Sunni provinces.
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