Army begins assault on ISIS stronghold Falluja

The Iraqi army says it has begun an operation to storm Falluja, a bastion of so-called Islamic State (IS). It comes a week after the government launched a concerted effort to retake the city, which has been held by the jihadists since 2014. An estimated 50,000 civilians are trapped inside, with only a few hundred […]

The Iraqi army says it has begun an operation to storm Falluja, a bastion of so-called Islamic State (IS).
It comes a week after the government launched a concerted effort to retake the city, which has been held by the jihadists since 2014.
An estimated 50,000 civilians are trapped inside, with only a few hundred families escaping so far.
Meanwhile IS militants launched a wave of bombings in and around the capital, Baghdad, killing at least 20 people.
State forces including members of an elite counter-terrorism unit are moving into Falluja on several fronts, an official statement said.
Islamic State fighters are reportedly putting up resistance with suicide and car bombings. The group is thought to have about 1,200 fighters, the majority from the city itself.