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Thousands of Iraqi families under ISIS siege in Fallujah
[ARA News] DUHOK – Radical group of the Islamic State (ISIS) has imposed siege on over 2,000 families from two villages south of the city of Fallujah, most of them are women and children, arresting dozens of young people from the two villages, official sources in the Iraqi army said on Sunday.

ISIS is reportedly using civilians as human shields to prevent the progress of the Iraqi army forces to Fallujah.

“The Iraqi army is ready to liberate the two villages and lift the siege imposed by the terror group on the people,” the army said in a statement.

In this regard, the military command of the Iraqi army in Anbar province announced in an official statement that the Iraqi troops were able to destroy several headquarters for ISIS in the region, and dismantled 45 explosive devices in different parts of the province [Anbar].

The Iraqi jets also destroyed ten ISIS-led cars in an airstrike in the area of Amiriyat al-Fallujah in the Anbar province, killing at least 20 ISIS jihadis and injuring dozens more, according to Salim al-Jaberi, a military commander in the Iraqi army.

Speaking to ARA News, Iraqi activist Saif Zahra said: “It seems that the military operations in Anbar province, specifically in Fallujah, have reached the stage of direct clashes with ISIS terrorists, especially the latter would not leave the city easily after two years of control.”

“With the support of the US-led coalition forces, the Iraqi army forces started to intensify their military operations to undermine the group’s power and reduce the death toll among the stranded civilians in the city,” he argued.

Fallujah has been under ISIS control since early 2014 after the withdrawal of the Iraqi security forces. Residents of the city suffer house arrest imposed by ISIS extremists, according to local sources.
Posted by: badanov 2016-05-09
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=455277