Iraqi forces take control over last ISIS stronghold in Ramadi – military spokesman

BAGHDAD- Iraqi forces have seized the government complex in the center of Ramadi – the so-called Islamic State’s last stronghold in the western city, a military spokesman told Reuters. An official announcement is expected once counter-terrorist units dispose of explosives in the area, RT reported.

“By controlling the complex this means that they [Islamic State, IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL] have been defeated in Ramadi,” Sabah al-Numani, a spokesman for the Iraqi counter-terrorism units leading the fight.

 Al-Numani stressed the complex is under full control of the Iraqi forces with “no presence whatsoever of Daesh [ISIS] fighters” adding that some militants could still be hiding in “pockets that could exist here or there in the city.”

A major clearing effort is still needed to allow Iraqi troops to move freely around the city as “ISIS” terrorists had filled the area with bombs and booby-traps. The necessity of a clear-up operation prevented the Iraqi government and the military from declaring a victory immediately, although some people in a number of cities were already celebrating, AFP reports.

“The forces of anti-terrorist units are working day and night on the disposal of improvised explosive devices and car bombs left by ISIL militants in central Ramadi, who have escaped in the direction of Al-Khaldiya,” Lieutenant-General Abdul-Ghani Asadi told Sputnik.

Iraqi forces advanced to the provincial government compound in Ramadi overnight and encircled the terrorists in the complex earlier on Sunday.

Ramadi, the capital of the Anbar province, was seized by ISIS in May after about a week of fighting with the governmental forces.

H.M