Fighting with IS continues near Ramadi after liberation

Iraqi security forces on Sunday continued fighting the Islamic State (IS), and cleared new areas in the city of Ramadi, the capital of the western province of Anbar.

A source said on condition of anonymity that fierce clashes erupted on Sunday morning as Iraqi security forces and allied Sunni tribal fighters launched an operation to flush out IS militants from Soufiyah District in the eastern part of Ramadi.This is some 110 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, killing at least 22 militants,.

He said also in Ramadi, a booby-trapped house was detonated during a search operation in the battlefield district of al-Mal'ab in the east, leaving 10 security members dead and six others wounded.

The source said the troops had taken control of the district.

Iraqi forces captured downtown Ramadi from the IS on Dec. 28, but other parts of the city are yet to be fully secured due to large numbers of bombs planted by the IS.

He said the Iraqi and U.S.-led aircraft carried out airstrikes on IS positions in Mudhiej area east of Ramadi, killing at least 13 militants.

The source said further that air strikes and heavy clashes with IS militants continued near the town of Barwana, some 190 km west of Baghdad, as the security forces recaptured all the areas at the edge of the town.

He said dozens of IS militants were killed, without giving further details.

He said in the past few days, Barwana was the scene of a series of attacks by IS militants which were repelled by security forces and local Sunni tribal fighters, with the support from the air.

The source said that in Salahudin province, an unmanned Iraqi plane mistakenly bombed a Shiite paramilitary unit, known as Hashd Shaabi, at al-Salam village north of the provincial capital city Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad.

He said nine members of the unit were killed and 13 others injured, the provincial operations command said in a statement.