Iraqi troops seize control of districts of Falluja from Isis
Iraqi troops have wrested back control of districts in the Islamic State-held city of Falluja in a long-awaited operation fraught with fears that the militant group could try to use tens of thousands of civilians as human shields, The Guardian reports.
According to the source, the assault came on Monday after a week of preparations focused on encircling the city, which fell to ISIS early in 2014, months before the jihadis announced the creation of a caliphate.
Iraqi commanders said elite counterterrorism forces had begun a multi-pronged assault aimed at reaching the city centre, and appeared to have taken three out of nine districts in the militant redoubt west of Baghdad.
The assault on Falluja comes amid a concerted campaign against Isis in Iraq and Syria that has stretched the militants across multiple fronts. It is likely to last at least a few days with stiff resistance from the militants.
Falluja was the first major city to be seized by ISIS, taken long before the militants surged into northern Iraq and conquered the Nineveh plains and Iraq’s second city, Mosul.