15 civilians killed across Iraq attacks
A wave of attacks across Iraq killed at least 15 civilians
on Wednesday as government forces pressed on with their offensive to dislodge
Islamic State militants from a major city west of Baghdad, officials said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks,
though they bore the hallmarks of the IS, a Sunni militant group that has
targeted Iraqi forces, civilians and especially Shiites, reports AP.
In the Shiite-majority town of Khalis, about 80 kilometers
(50 miles) north of the Iraqi capital, two explosives-laden cars were
detonated. The first car was parked inside a bus station and that explosion
killed three and wounded 10, a police officer said.
The second car bomb exploded at the town's outdoor grocery
market, killing four civilians and wounding eight.
In and around Baghdad, five bombs went off in commercial
areas, killing eight civilians and wounding 35, two police officers said. Three
medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on
condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.
The attacks came a day after Iraqi security forces reported
progress in recapturing some areas in the western city of Ramadi, 130
kilometers (80 miles) west of Baghdad, from the Islamic State extremists who
control large swaths of land in western and northern Iraq and in neighboring
Syria. The IS group has declared a self-styled caliphate on the territory under
its control.
On Wednesday, the Iraqi security forces' advance was slowed
by snipers, roadside bombs and booby-trapped buildings, military spokesman
Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, told The Associated Press. Rasool said some of the
families that were trapped in Ramadi had managed to flee the city and reached
safe areas.
In May, the Iraqi government suffered a major blow when IS
militants took over Ramadi, the capital of sprawling western Anbar province and
Iraq's Sunni heartland. It was the government's biggest defeat since IS swept
through areas in the country's north and west, including Iraq's second-largest
city of Mosul, in the summer of 2014.
On Tuesday, Iraqi counter-terrorism forces pushed into the
Dubbat and Aramil neighborhoods, about 3 kilometers (less than 2 miles) from
the city center, said Gen. Ismail al-Mahallawi, the head of operations in Anbar
province. The Iraqi air force and the U.S.-led international coalition were
providing air support to troops on ground and bombing IS targets, he said.
Hours after Iraqi government announced the gains, Col. Steve
Warren, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad, said there were 250 to
350 Islamic State fighters in Ramadi, as well as several hundred outside the
city on the northern and western perimeter.
"I think the fall of Ramadi is inevitable," Warren
told Pentagon reporters, cautioning that it will take some time. "It's
going to be a tough fight."
Since overrunning Ramadi, the Islamic State group has
destroyed all the bridges around the city. It also demolished the Anbar
operations command and fanned out into the city's residential areas to set up
less conspicuous centers of command.
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