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.
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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