BAGHDAD: Dozens of militants died in two days of fighting with counter-terrorism forces in a city west of Iraq’s capital, a security spokesman said, while violence elsewhere yesterday killed at least 10 people.
Violence has surged to a level not seen since 2008, when Iraq was just emerging from a brutal period of sectarian killings in which tens of thousands died.
And shifting parts of Anbar provincial capital Ramadi and all of the city of Fallujah, to its east, have been held by anti-government fighters for more than eight weeks. Sabah Noori, spokesman for Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service, said its forces had killed 52 militants on Sunday and yesterday in Ramadi. “During an operation to clear areas of Ramadi, our forces were able to kill 52 terrorists” from powerful jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Noori said. The dead included foreign fighters, he said, adding that operations to retake some areas of the city were still ongoing.AFP
