Iraqi forces battle IS militants in Iraq

Iraqi security forces launched a major offensive against the Islamic State (IS) militant group in the country's western province of Anbar on Saturday, while battles with the group continue in the northern central province of Salahudin, security source said.
In Anbar province, the security forces, backed by allied tribal fighters and aircraft, launched in the early hours of the day a major offensive against the IS militants who earlier seized al- Sajjariyah suburb in the eastern city of Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The troops drove inside the suburb and recaptured most of the suburb, including the industrial area, before noon and battles are still underway, the source said.
The battles came one day after the IS militants carried out an attack early Friday from three directions on the city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, and captured Sajjariyah suburb and some neighborhoods inside the city, the source added.
Later on Friday, the troops and the paramilitary tribesmen repelled the attack of the IS militants inside Ramadi and retook control of the neighborhoods but sporadic clashes continued inside and on the edges of the city, he said.
For months, Ramadi has been the scene of fierce clashes between the IS militants and the security forces, which has gained support from some of the local Sunni tribes who rejected the presence of the extremist IS group.
Separately, an army airstrike hit the town of Heet, some 160 km west of Baghdad, killing six people, including two women, the source added.
Since December last year, insurgent attacks continue in the Sunni Arab heartland in west of Baghdad that stretches through Anbar province, which has been the scene of fierce clashes that flared up after Iraqi police dismantled an anti-government protest site outside Ramadi.
In Salahudin province, the security forces retook control of the main road near the city of Balad, some 80 km north of Baghdad, after heavy clashes with the IS militants who swept the area late on Friday in an attempt to seize the areas and towns on the main road between Baghdad and Salahudin's provincial capital of Tikrit, which has been under the control of IS militants for months, a provincial security source anonymously told Xinhua.
The troops and Shiite militiamen also seized the strategic bridge Saiyd Gharib, on the Tigris River, just south of Balad, as the battles continued near the bridge to secure the surrounding area, the source said, without giving further details about the casualties, but said many bodies of IS militant were left dumped in the battle ground.
The security situation in Iraq began to drastically deteriorate on June 10, when bloody clashes broke out between the Iraqi security forces and the IS group, an al-Qaida offshoot, who took control of the country's northern province of Nineveh and later seized swathes of territories after Iraqi security forces abandoned their posts in other predominantly Sunni provinces.