Iraqi forces seize center of Fallujah from ISIL

“Controlling Fallujah is important because geographically it is close to the capital Baghdad and retaking it would weaken ISIS in Iraq”, retired army major general and military analyst Abdulkhaliq Shahir told Rudaw Friday.

Shiite fighters and Iraqi security forces fire artillery during clashes with Islamic State militants near Falluja, Iraq.

The IS group has lost nearly half of the northern and western territory they seized when Iraqi forces partially collapsed in 2014.

Although the Iraqi government previously said it had a particular strategy to establish safe corridors for civilians in the city centre to leave, many have been reluctant to go from fear of how they may be treated by the Shia units.

“This is a very significant development”, said Al Jazeera’s Omar Al Saleh, who has reported extensively on the conflict in Iraq.

Obeid said Iraqi forces had begun clearing roadside bombs near the city’s government complex, which includes city offices and a police station.

The government lost control of Fallujah in 2014, months before Islamic State took Iraq’s second city, Mosul, and swept across large parts of the country.

“In different parts of Fallujah ISIL still remains”, said Saleh, “Iraqi forces still have a tough few days ahead”.

The number of displaced people as of Thursday surpassed 68,000, according to the United Nations, which recently estimated Falluja’s total population at 90,000, only about a third of the total in 2010. “They had not been there since the beginning of 2014”, Commander al-Obeidi said.

He said special forces believe militants are hiding in areas nearby.

The International Organization for Migration says some 68,000 people have fled the city, while another 20,000 remain there amid dire conditions.

Sabah al-Numani, a CTS spokesman, said on state television that snipers holed up inside the hospital, considered a nest of militants, were resisting but the facility was expected to be retaken within hours.

Iraqi forces drove militants out of Ramadi, a Sunni city in western Iraq, in December after weeks of fighting.