Mass Grave Found in Ramadi, Iraq, After ISIS Driven From City

Islamic State militants were using the command post to launch suicide attacks against the Iraqi army, who were closing in on the terrorists.

“Under the cover of fog, they broke into Speicher”, said Mahmud al-Sorchi, spokesperson for the paramilitary force being set up to take back ISIL-held Nineveh.

Fighters from so-called Islamic State (IS) have continued to pursue counterattacks on the edges of Ramadi a week after the city was recaptured by Iraqi troops.

‘The security forces have entered the governmental buildings and raised the Iraqi flags over them after killing many ISIS militants and the rest have escaped, ‘ announced Brigadier General Yahya Rasool-the spokesperson for Iraq military.

According to the commander, after Ramadi is freed from Daesh militants, the Iraqi army will start liberating the city of Fallujah in the Anbar province.

“They managed to take control of the base when the army had to pull out because it suffered casualties…”

If that’s true, and if the Iraqis can replicate this success in tougher tests to come in Iraqi cities such as Fallujah and Mosul, it could vindicate President Obama’s stubborn insistence on letting local forces take the lead against ISIL while USA forces stick largely to training and assistance.

A coalition air strike on December 24 in Syria killed Charaffe al Mouadan, a Syria-based Islamic State member with a direct link to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected ringleader of the coordinated bombings and shootings in Paris on November 13 which killed 130 people, Warren said. There they had helped to isolate the city and hold areas, freeing up the military to advance.

This comes days after Iraqi troops drove the militant group out of the city center. It can also be used to clear mines and other hidden explosives.

“The expulsion of ISIS by Iraqi security forces, supported by our global coalition, is a significant step forward in the campaign to defeat this barbaric group and restore Iraq’s territorial sovereignty”, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said in a statement on Monday.

Iraqi forces, trained by the US-led coalition, engaged in a battle forcing around 700 Islamic State fighters from their strongholds and into the eastern outskirts of the province following a major ground offensive this week.