...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Sunni militias is raging in the west of Iraq's Anbar province, with a fierce battle taking place for control of the strategic town of Heet.
ISIL had reportedly seized control of most of the town on Thursday, but Sunni militias, fighting on behalf of Iraq's government, swiftly denied the claim saying the battle was ongoing.
State television said the gang had occupied the mayor's office and cop shoppe but were locked in fighting with the local Sunni Albu Nimr tribe.
Al Jazeera's Imran Khan
... aka
Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree...
, reporting from the capital Baghdad, said the town had yet to fall - with ISIL fighters unable to move in and out freely. Khan added that the fighting appeared to have sparked again over the past three days, prompted by US and French air strikes on an ISIL base-camp last week.
Heet is a walled market town 30km from Anbar's provincial capital Ramadi, and lies close to the Ain al-Asad military base, one of Iraq's largest defense facilities. Anbar Province, which borders Syria, has been a major stronghold for ISIL and continues to be largely controlled by the group.
