All IS group fighters have left Ramadi compound: force spokesman

Recapturing Ramadi, which fell to the militants in May, would be one of the most significant victories for Iraq’s armed forces since Islamic State (IS) swept across a third of the country in 2014.

An Iraqi army spokesman says Iraqi troops have pushed deeper into the heart of Ramadi, where they have been engaged in a weeklong offensive to take back a government complex from Islamic State militants after losing control of the city seven months ago.

“The situation in town was very hard because there’s no food left in the shops”, Dulaimi told AFP by phone from Habbaniyah, where he and his family of five are receiving assistance from the army. “The operation is nearly wrapped up; our forces will enter in the coming hours”.

Our correspondent said Iraqi forces were being slowed significantly by snipers, IEDs and booby-trapped buildings.

In this Friday, Dec. 25, 2015 photo, smoke rises from Islamic State positions following a U.S.-led coalition airstrike as Iraqi Security forces advance their position in downtown Ramadi, 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq. He said around 50 families who had been trapped inside Ramadi had managed to reach safe areas under government control.

According to medical sources in Baghdad, 93 members of the security forces were brought in with injuries on Sunday alone.

Army commanders said Wednesday the battle would take several days.

Those numbers were thought to have drastically declined over the past two days, with several fighters retreating from the main battle and dozens of others killed in fighting or in suicide attacks.

Ali Dawood, the head of the neighbouring Khaldiya council, said IS fighters used civilians as human shields to slip out of the complex.

“The air strikes were very powerful and accurate, and were instrumental in regaining ground, as they helped detonate bombs and killing large number of IS militants”, the source said. “We have to be very patient in order not to lose any soldier or any civilian in the area”, Ibrahim said.

Coalition spokesman Colonel Steven Warren told CNN that Iraqi forces are beginning to squeeze the noose around Ramadi, slowly but surely.

It was the Iraqi forces’ worst defeat in the war against IS, and a victory now would give a boost to the often criticised federal forces.

The ultimate aim for the government is to drive ISIL from Mosul, Iraq’s largest northern city, and Fallujah, which lies between Ramadi and Baghdad, as well as large areas of Syria – the core of what it has declared to be its caliphate.

“ISIL has lost the balance of power as it does not know which direction it’s being attacked by Iraqi forces”.