Iraqi security forces are preparing a “major attack” to retake the city of Fallujah from al Qaeda-linked militants, a senior government official said on Sunday.
Special forces had already conducted operations in the city, the official said. The regular army had paused on the edge of the city to allow residents time to leave, awaiting orders to launch “the attack to crush the terrorists”.
On Saturday, a senior security official in Anbar province said Fallujah was under the control of al Qaeda-linked group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Washington said it would help Baghdad in its battle against al Qaeda-linked militants but that there would be no return of US troops.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday that Washington was ready to help Baghdad in its battle against the militants, but added that it was “their fight”.
“We are not obviously contemplating returning, we are not contemplating putting boots on the ground,” Kerry told reporters in Jerusalem.
ISIL is the latest incarnation of Al-Qaeda’s Iraq affiliate and has made a striking comeback this year, taking advantage of widespread discontent among Sunnis and its newfound bases in neighbouring Syria, where it has become a major player in the nearly three-year-old conflict.
ISIL militants have also taken control of parts of Ramadi, the provincial capital, and on Sunday seized control of the nearby village of Bubali after heavy fighting, a witness said.
Both Ramadi and Fallujah were insurgent strongholds in the insurgency against American troops and the Iraqi government after 2003. Fallujah was the target of two major assaults by US forces.
Violence in Iraq last year reached a level not seen since 2008, when the country was just emerging from a brutal period of sectarian killings.
“We are very, very concerned about the efforts of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq in the Levant, which is affiliated with al Qaeda, who are trying to assert their authority not just in Iraq, but in Syria,” Kerry said.
“These are the most dangerous players in that region. Their barbarism against the civilians in Ramadi and Fallujah and against Iraqi security forces is on display for everyone in the world to see.”
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, REUTERS)
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