08:12:00
Shola Alade
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Group seizes control of complex as chief of US command insists latest gain in provincial capital does not mean setback.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has raised its black flag over the local government headquarters in the Iraqi city of Ramadi and claimed victory through mosque loudspeakers after overrunning most of the western provincial capital, officials have said.
If Ramadi were to fall to ISIL it would be the first major city seized by the fighters in Iraq since security forces and paramilitary groups began pushing them back last year.
Fighting continued in one district of Ramadi, 100km west of Baghdad, and government forces were still in control of a military command centre to the west of the city.
Hikmat Suleiman, the spokesman for Anbar's governor, told Al Jazeera that the fighters managed to seize the heavily fortified main government compound of the city on Friday mainly due to a lack of backing from the central Baghdad government.
Brigadier-General Thomas Weidley, the chief of the US command in the war against ISIL, said that the group's latest advances in Ramadi did not represent a setback.
Weidley said ISIL had "episodic, temporary successes, but again these typically don't materialise into long-term gains".
ISIL itself issued a statement in which it said its fighters "broke into the Safavid government complex in the centre of Ramadi".
The operation "resulted in the control of it after killing the 'murtadeen' then blowing up the adjacent buildings of Anbar's governorate and the Safavid Anbar police HQ".
Safavid is a term used by ISIL in a derogatory way to refer to government forces and "murtadeen" designates Sunni tribal fighters battling alongside the government.
'Ramadi not fully taken'
Suleiman, Anbar governor's spokesman speaking to Al Jazeera, denied the city of Ramadi had fully fallen to ISIL, as the Anbar Operations Command, which is the military command in Ramadi, remains under the control of authorities.
The government compound taken by ISIL contained Anbar's governor's office, police headquarters and intelligence headquarters.
Al Jazeera's Osama Mohamed, reporting from Baghdad, said that Iraqi army helicopters had continued to strike several parts of the government compound in an attempt to regain control.
ISIL has threatened to take control of Ramadi for months and the breakthrough came after a wide offensive on several fronts in the province, including an assault using several suicide car bombs in Ramadi on Thursday.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Group seizes control of complex as chief of US command insists latest gain in provincial capital does not mean setback.
If Ramadi were to fall to ISIL it would be the first major city seized by the fighters in Iraq since security forces and paramilitary groups began pushing them back last year.
Fighting continued in one district of Ramadi, 100km west of Baghdad, and government forces were still in control of a military command centre to the west of the city.
Hikmat Suleiman, the spokesman for Anbar's governor, told Al Jazeera that the fighters managed to seize the heavily fortified main government compound of the city on Friday mainly due to a lack of backing from the central Baghdad government.
"For months we were complaining and telling the security ministries that there was no coordination," he said, adding that the military ignored requests for much needed weapons.'No setback'
Brigadier-General Thomas Weidley, the chief of the US command in the war against ISIL, said that the group's latest advances in Ramadi did not represent a setback.
Weidley said ISIL had "episodic, temporary successes, but again these typically don't materialise into long-term gains".
"We firmly believe Daesh is on the defensive throughout Iraq and Syria," he told reporters in a teleconference, using an alternative acronym for the ISIL group.Prime Minister Haider al-Abbadi met 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".
ISIL itself issued a statement in which it said its fighters "broke into the Safavid government complex in the centre of Ramadi".
The operation "resulted in the control of it after killing the 'murtadeen' then blowing up the adjacent buildings of Anbar's governorate and the Safavid Anbar police HQ".
Safavid is a term used by ISIL in a derogatory way to refer to government forces and "murtadeen" designates Sunni tribal fighters battling alongside the government.
'Ramadi not fully taken'
Suleiman, Anbar governor's spokesman speaking to Al Jazeera, denied the city of Ramadi had fully fallen to ISIL, as the Anbar Operations Command, which is the military command in Ramadi, remains under the control of authorities.
The government compound taken by ISIL contained Anbar's governor's office, police headquarters and intelligence headquarters.
Al Jazeera's Osama Mohamed, reporting from Baghdad, said that Iraqi army helicopters had continued to strike several parts of the government compound in an attempt to regain control.
ISIL has threatened to take control of Ramadi for months and the breakthrough came after a wide offensive on several fronts in the province, including an assault using several suicide car bombs in Ramadi on Thursday.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
0 comments:
Post a Comment