Islamic State fighters attacked a government complex in the heart of Ramadi yesterday, local officials said, part of an apparently coordinated assault to seize full control of the provincial capital west of Baghdad.
Gunmen fired from rooftops at the buildings, which house the Anbar governorate building and police headquarters, while security forces and tribal fighters tried to prevent the militants from advancing.
Mosques broadcast appeals for reinforcements to prevent the Sunni militants taking full control of Ramadi, which would be a major setback for government forces after they broke an Islamic State siege of Iraq’s biggest oil refinery this week. Most of Ramadi, about 90 km west of Baghdad, and the surrounding Sunni Muslim province of Anbar is already held by Islamic State.
It also seized much of northern Iraq from the Shi’ite-led government in June, plunging Iraq into its worst security crisis since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
