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The contested city of Ramadi has fallen to the Islamic State group, as Iraqi forces abandoned their weapons and armoured vehicles to flee the provincial capital in a major loss despite intensified US-led airstrikes.
Bodies, some burned, littered the streets as local officials reported the militants carried out mass killings of Iraqi security forces and civilians on Sunday. Online video showed Humvees, trucks and other equipment speeding out of Ramadi, with soldiers gripping onto their sides.

“Ramadi has fallen,” said Muhannad Haimour, a spokesman for the governor of Anbar province. “The city was completely taken. ... The military is fleeing.”

With defeat looming, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered security forces not to abandon their posts across Anbar province, apparently fearing the extremists could capture the entire desert region that saw intense fighting after the 2003 US-led invasion to topple dictator Saddam Hussein.
Sunday’s retreat recalled the collapse of Iraqi security forces last summer in the face of the Islamic State group’s blitz into Iraq that saw it capture a third of the country, where it has declared a caliphate, or Islamic State. It also calls into question the Obama administration’s hopes of relying solely on airstrikes to support the Iraqi forces in expelling the extremists.
Earlier Sunday, al-Abadi ordered Shiite militias to prepare to go into the Sunni-dominated province, ignoring US concerns their presence could spark sectarian bloodshed. By late Sunday, a large number of Shiite militiamen had arrived at a military base near Ramadi, apparently to participate in a possible counter-offensive, said the head of the Anbar provincial council, Sabah Karhout.

“We welcome any group, including Shiite militias, to come and help us in liberating the city from the militants. What happened today is a big loss caused by lack of good planning by the military,” said a Sunni tribal leader, Naeem al-Gauoud.
He said many tribal fighters died trying to defend the city, and bodies, some charred, were strewn in the streets, while others had been thrown in the Euphrates River. Ramadi mayor Dalaf al-Kubaisi said that more than 250 civilians and security forces were killed over the past two days, including dozens of police and other government supporters shot dead in the streets or their homes, along with their wives, children and other family members.
The US-led coalition said Sunday it conducted seven airstrikes in Ramadi in the last 24 hours. “It is a fluid and contested battlefield,” said Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman. “We are supporting (the Iraqis) with air power.”
The final push by the extremists began early Sunday with four nearly simultaneous bombings that targeted police officers defending the Malaab district in southern Ramadi, a pocket of the city still under Iraqi government control, killing at least 10 police and wounding 15, authorities said.
Later, three suicide bombers drove their explosive-laden cars into the gate of the Anbar Operation Command, the military headquarters for the province, killing at least five soldiers and wounding 12, authorities said.
Fierce clashes then erupted between security forces and Islamic State militants following the attacks, and the extremists later seized Malaab after government forces withdrew, with the militants saying they controlled the military headquarters.
A police officer who was stationed at the headquarters said retreating Iraqi forces left behind about 30 army vehicles and weapons that included artillery and assault rifles. He said some two dozen police officers went missing during the fighting.
The officer and other officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren’t authorised to talk to journalists.
On a militant website frequented by Islamic State members, a message from the group claimed its fighters held the 8th Brigade army base, as well as tanks and missile launchers left behind by fleeing soldiers. The message could not be independently verified.
Last week, the militants swept through Ramadi, seizing the main government headquarters and other key parts of the city.
On Friday, with Ramadi on the brink of collapse, the US military command downplayed IS gains there, describing them as fleeting.
“We’ve seen similar attacks in Ramadi over the last several months which the (Iraqi security forces) have been able to repel,” said Marine Brigadier General Thomas D. Weidley, chief of staff for the campaign fighting the militants .
 


‘Ramadi has fallen’: Islamic State claims city as Iraqi troops drop weapons and flee

Iraqi security forces defend their headquarters against attacks by Islamic State extremists in the eastern part of Ramadi last Thursday. The city fell over the weekend. Photo: Reuters

Displaced Sunni people fleeing the violence in the city of Ramadi arrive at the outskirts of Baghdad on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Smoke from a bomb attack rises over Ramadi on Friday. Photo: Reuters

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