Iraqi Security Forces Drive ISIL Out of East Ramadi

Sputnik News

09:59 24.05.2015(updated 12:19 24.05.2015)

Iraqi security forces on Saturday regained control over the city of Khalediyah, located to the east of the Anbar province's capital, Ramadi, according to the local police.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Islamic State jihadist group (ISIL) captured Ramadi, situated some 70 miles west of Baghdad, last Sunday, following several days of heavy fighting. Hundreds of Iraqi servicemen were killed and more than 40,000 local residents fled the city.

"The security forces have managed to gain control over the city of Khalediyah [14 miles east of Ramadi] and all of the surrounding areas," Khaled Dulaimi, the deputy president of the Anbar police's chief, said as quoted by the local IraqiNews online portal on Sunday.

He added that the area had been completely secured from the ISIL militants.

On Saturday, the media reported that some 3,000 members of the Iraqi militia started an offensive operation against the ISIL's militants in the area of Ramadi.

The Islamic State is a Sunni jihadist group that since 2014 has captured vast territories in Iraq and Syria, proclaiming a caliphate on the lands that have fallen under its control.

The militants are notorious for numerous human rights atrocities including mass killings and beheadings of foreign hostages posted online and the destruction of cultural heritage sites.

On Wednesday, following a week of fighting, ISIL seized the city of Palmyra in central Syria, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most important cultural and archaeological sites in the Middle East.

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