BAGHDAD, (Reuters) – Islamic State militants raised their black flag over the local government headquarters in the Iraqi city of Ramadi yesterday and claimed victory through mosque loudspeakers after overrunning most of the western provincial capital.
If Ramadi were to fall it would be the first major city seized by the insurgents in Iraq since security forces and paramilitary groups began pushing them back last year.
The insurgents attacked Ramadi overnight using six suicide car bombs to reach the city centre, where the Anbar provincial government compound is located, police sources said.
Fighting continued in one district of Ramadi, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, and government forces were still in control of a military command centre to the west of the city. “The situation in Ramadi is dire, but the city has not fallen and the battle against criminal Daesh is still ongoing,” Anbar governor Sohaib al-Rawi said on Twitter, using an Arabic name for Islamic State.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi met with military and security leaders on Friday as well as the heads of the air force and counterterrorism and pledged to intensify efforts to “expel the terrorist gangs from Ramadi”.
He later spoke about the Ramadi attacks with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who pledged expedited U.S. aid to Iraqi forces including heavy weaponry, AT-4 shoulder-held rockets, ammunition and other supplies, the White House said.
