Attack on Iraqi military base kills at least 15

On Friday the group attacked a military base near the city.

The marksman, said to have been serving as an adviser to Iraqi forces, fired 30 rounds from a Barrett M82.50 calibre anti-materiel rifle into a two-storey command post in the city of Ramadi in Iraq.

The Islamic State (IS), which controls swathes of territory in Iraq’s north and west, claimed responsibility for the blasts in a statement distributed by supporters online.

“The majority of these are outside downtown Ramadi to the north and east”, and so far Iraqi government forces have successfully repelled every attack, said Baghdad-based coalition spokesman Col. Steve Warren.

After taking the strategic government complex in the center of the city, elite counterterrorism forces have been expanding their grip and sweeping each neighborhood for holdout jihadis and trapped civilians.

The attack was the biggest launched by ISIS against Iraqi forces since Ramadi’s recapture.

According to Amash, around 600 families were able to escape the city while it was under ISIS’ control, but an unknown number were captured by retreating militants “to use them as human shields”, he said. “We haven’t seen anything more than small teams of ISIL fighters [four to eight individuals] trying to conduct harassing attacks”.

In the early hours of Sunday morning Islamic State group terrorists killed over 15 security personnel and wounded scores more in a suicide bomb attack. The military responded, killing at least 42 militants including the bombers, the ministry said.

The alliance, made up of units from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Arab fighters, has carried out several major operations against IS. The dam, held by IS since 2014, helps generate electricity for large parts of the northern Aleppo province, the Observatory said.