Iraqi commander says no progress yet in IS-held Ramadi

CNN’s Becky Anderson, reporting from the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi, noted the coalition spokesman used careful wording in the statement that pointed out the city government center had been retaken.

Brig. Gen. Ahmed al-Belawi told The Associated Press that IS militants stopped firing from inside the government complex at around 8 a.m. Monday and said troops were encircling it as engineering teams cleared booby traps.

Parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi issued a statement congratulating the “heroes of the security forces for a great victory, which resulted in the liberation of the city of Ramadi from terrorism”.

People waving Iraqi flags celebrated the Ramadi victory in several cities, including Baghdad and the holy Shi’ite city of Karbala. But there remain pockets of insurgents – some six to eight men – fighting back in some neighborhoods, he said.

Members of Iraq’s counterterrorism service parade with their Humvees on Monday after they recaptured Ramadi.

Soldiers were shown on state television on Monday publicly slaughtering a sheep in an act of celebration. Those troops have been accused of carrying out vengeance killings of Sunnis in the aftermath of battle, and the government was wise to keep them out of Ramadi, the capital of heavily Sunni Anbar province.

The city, and others in Anbar province, was the scene of fierce battles between USA military troops and the Islamic State group’s predecessor, al-Qaeda in Iraq, during the years following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

“We congratulate the Iraqi Security Forces for their continued success against ISIL in Ramadi”, said Army Col. Steve Warren, the top spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Baghdad.

In a major victory over the terror group Islamic State In Iraq, Security forces claim to have “full control” of central Ramadi city, which has been hotbed to terror group.

The Iraqi military launched their long-promised campaign to retake the city (80 miles west of Baghdad) last week.

Formed in 2013 from an affiliate of al-Qaeda and known by other names including ISIS, ISIL and Daesh, garnered global headlines for its conquest of territory in Syria and Iraq.

If the recapture of Ramadi is confirmed, it will be the first major city seized from Daesh by Iraq’s military.

“The bodies are taken directly to the main military hospital” near the airport, said one hospital source.

Despite ISIL destroying Ramadi’s bridges, the Iraqi forces were able to access the city using an Improved Ribbon Bridge, and push north into downtown Ramadi. “We can’t say that Ramadi is fully liberated”.

Reports of Iraqi forces backed by coalition forces making gains in Ramadi had been making the rounds since last week. Anbar was once the scene of the “Sunni Awakening” campaign during the U.S. occupation, which recruited local Sunnis to fight against al-Qaida in Iraq, the precursor of Isis.

The militias were held back from the battlefield in Ramadi this time to avoid antagonising the mainly Sunni population.