Iraqi forces close to taking Ramadi from IS

In addition to the targeted houses, the bombing raid heavily damaged adjacent homes.

“The fighting is in the neighbourhoods around the complex, with support from the air force”. Others have put the death toll at over 20, with another 30 wounded. The quick loss of Ramadi to Islamic State in May was an embarrassment for Iraq’s army, which watched its soldiers melt away as militants advanced on the city.

Eid al-Karboly, a spokesman for the provincial council of Anbar, of which Ramadi is the capital, said about 150 to 200 people had managed to cross the battle lines to reach Iraqi forces. Warplanes struck 15 targets Tuesday and 38 on Wednesday.

An Iraqi military spokesman said that government forces had pushed into the center of Ramadi and was in the process of “purging residential areas”.

The Iraqi forces had trained for the maneuver with the engineers of the 814th Multi-Role Bridging Company based at Fort Polk, Louisiana, Warren said.

On Wednesday, Iraqi army officials claimed that an abundance of booby traps and suicide bombers have slowed an offensive in Ramadi, but vowed to fight on until ISIS relinquishes the strategic city.

The U.S. also quietly changed its rules of engagement for those operations, from aiming for a “zero” risk of civilian casualties to the risk of no more than five civilians being killed, according to a U.S. defense official.

It is noteworthy that non of the pro-Baghdad government Shi´ite militia participate in the campaign against Ramadi, supporting the notion that the recapture of Ramadi is likely to exacerbate both conflicts between Iraqi Kurds and Baghdad as well as the Sunni – Shi´ite tensions in he war-torn country.

Corruption, he says, is now worse than ever and terrorist organisations are even more capable of adapting to the environment and learning from their mistakes.

Iraqi forces announced a counteroffensive shortly afterward Mosul fell but progress has been sluggish and clawing territory back from IS has proven more hard than expected.

ISIS took over Ramadi in May after a year of fighting there, spurring tens of thousands of civilians to flee.

From the south, troops led by the counter-terrorism agency made progress in the Dubbat and Aramil neighborhoods, about 3 kilometers (less than 2 miles) from the city center, Gen. Ismail al-Mahallawi, the head of operations in Anbar province, told AP. Taha charged that the kidnappings were the work of armed factions belonging to the Popular Mobilization Units. It would provide a major psychological boost to Iraqi security forces after Islamic State militants seized a third of Iraq in a sweeping advance a year ago.

The militants, who are also known as ISIL, overran Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s Anbar province, in May.

Others warned against reading too much into any military’s success in Ramadi, saying political reconciliation between Sunni and Shiite leaders is necessary to ensure a lasting peace.

An investigative report by Reuters published earlier this month, titled “Torture by Iraqi militias: the report Washington did not want you to see”, reviewed decade-old documents prepared by the Pentagon on the crimes carried out by the Badr Brigade when it oversaw an unofficial Interior Ministry organization called the Special Investigations Directorate, which carried out illegal detentions, torture and death squad murders.