US trained Iraqi troops to join Ramadi counteroffensive

IS issued a statement on militant forums on Thursday claiming responsibility for the two bombs in predominantly neighbourhoods that killed at least 21 people.

Next will come the actual assault, a process that defense officials say will be deliberate and selective to avoid civilian casualties and limit damage, so that residents have homes and businesses to return to. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief journalists.

Websites linked to Islamic State claimed that the radical Sunni group was responsible for the attack, the latest in a series of deadly bombings in Iraq. Bombings occur nearly daily in Baghdad.

BAGHDAD Iraq has for the first time deployed soldiers trained by the U.S.-led coalition in their campaign to retake the city of Ramadi from Islamic State militants, the U.S. military said on Thursday. Last week, the Iraqi government formally announced the start of its offensive to retake the majority-Sunni city after it fell to the Islamic State, moreover known as ISIS and ISIL, in May.

In a sign of the Iraqi government’s continued reliance on Shiite paramilitary forces, the preparatory efforts around Ramadi have been complemented by similar operations by Shiite militias and volunteer forces around the nearby city of Fallujah, also under Islamic State control.

“I will be doing my own conferring with our military commanders”, he said.

The Iraq strikes were spread throughout the country, but the three near Ramadi were intended to hit crucial targets for Islamic State, said Colonel Wayne Marotto, chief of public affairs for the Combined Joint Task Force, referring to the group as “Daesh”.

There are also questions about the government’s ability to breach Iraq’s sectarian divide. They became part of the Islamic State’s arsenal and were then targeted in U.S. airstrikes.

Carter said he would also meet Sunni leaders during his trip to Iraq, noting Sunni participation in the campaign would be critical to its success. Obama’s critics in Congress complain that he is missing an opportunity to swiftly defeat the Islamic State by not sending U.S. ground combat troops or at least placing military advisers with Iraqi units to make them more effective. Carter aimed to build on it, the official said.