IS seizes Iraqi army base; PM to send in Shia fighters
*Security forces withdraw from Anbar Operations Command after it comes under attack by insurgents
BAGHDAD: Islamic State militants drove security forces from a key military base in western Iraq on Sunday and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi authorised the deployment of Shia paramilitaries to wrest back control of the mainly Sunni province.
Members of the security forces said they had withdrawn from the Anbar Operations Command after it came under attack by the insurgents, who have now trapped them in an area to the west of the city of Ramadi. One officer among them who asked to remain unnamed said the militants were urging the security forces via loudspeaker to discard their weapons, and promising them safety in return. The recent Islamic State gains in Anbar province represent the biggest victory for the insurgents in Iraq since security forces and Shia paramilitary groups began pushing them back last year.
A spokesman for Abadi said the prime minister had ordered paramilitaries to prepare to “support the armed forces and restore control over all parts of Anbar”, after the provincial council voted in favour of their deployment. Shia paramilitaries have played a leading role in reversing Islamic State gains elsewhere in Iraq, but have so far been kept on the sidelines in Anbar due to concerns about inflaming sectarian violence. Earlier on Sunday, the insurgents overran one of the last remaining districts held by government forces in Ramadi, having seized most of the city over the past two days.
A contingent of Iraqi special forces had been holding out in the Malaab neighborhood, but retreated to an area east of the city after suffering heavy casualties, security sources said. Anbar provincial council member Athal Fahdawi described the situation in Ramadi as “total collapse”. Ramadi is the capital of Anbar, Iraq’s largest province, and one of just a few towns and cities to have remained under government control in the vast desert terrain, which borders Saudi Arabia, Syria and Jordan.
Islamic State, which emerged as an offshoot of al Qaeda, controls large parts of Iraq and Syria in a self-proclaimed caliphate where it has massacred members of religious minorities and slaughtered Western and Arab hostages. The United States and its allies have been pounding the militants for months with air strikes in both countries. Washington said on Saturday its special forces had killed a senior IS figure in a raid into Syria. Over a period of 24 hours up to 0500 GMT on Sunday, the U.S.-led coalition carried out seven air strikes near Ramadi, according to a statement — the highest number on any single location in Iraq and Syria.
Police and army officials said four nearly simultaneous bombings targeted police officers defending the Malaab district in southern Ramadi, killing 10 and wounding 15. Among the dead was Col. Muthana al-Jabri, the chief of the Malaab police station, they said. Later on, police said three suicide bombers drove their explosive-laden cars into the gate of the Anbar Operation Command, the military headquarters for the province, killing five soldiers and wounding 12.
Fierce clashes erupted between security forces and Islamic State militants following the attacks. Islamic State militants later seized Malaab after government forces withdrew, with the militants saying they now held the military headquarters. A police officer who was in Malaab said retreating forces left behind about 30 army vehicles and weapons that included artillery and assault rifles. He said some two dozen police officers also went missing during the fighting. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren’t authorized to talk to journalists.
