Battle for Falluja will end in western district, says Iraqi commander
US-backed Iraqi forces fighting Islamic State militants in Falluja are advancing toward jihadist strongholds in western districts where they expect the final push to recapture the city will take place, the Iraqi commander said on June 20.
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Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory on June 17 after troops reached the center of the city, an hour's drive west of Baghdad, but an official in the US-led coalition said on June 19 Iraqi forces had so far taken only half of Falluja.
The operation to recapture the Iraqi city longest held by Islamic State entered its fifth week on June 20, and fighting has forced more than 85,000 residents to flee to overwhelmed government-run camps.
Iraqi forces continue to face shooting, suicide bombs and mortar attacks as they confront militants north of a road running through the city.
Heavily armored Interior Ministry police units were pressing toward Golan neighborhood, on the northwestern edge of the city, Lieutenant General Abdul Wahab al-Saidi told Reuters at his temporary command post in a southern district.
"The biggest effort now is on the western axis. If they collapse on the western axis and our forces reach Golan, you won't hear any more shots inside Falluja," he said.
Troops from Saidi's counter-terrorism force were fighting Islamic State in al-Dhubat district, further east. Fifty militants were killed there by coalition air strikes on June 19 and at least 15 others died in clashes, the commander said.
Army troops moving north from the neighborhood of Shurta had not yet entered al-Jughaifi area on the city's northern edge, while units from Baghdad operations command were advancing in the easternmost district of Askari, according to Saidi.
Sitting with other officers from the elite counter-terrorism service at a plastic picnic table littered with walkie-talkies inside an unfinished building, Saidi said the battle would end soon.
