CAIRO (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, the Iraqi army’s information bureau told Sputnik that the Iraqi troops had killed 36 Daesh members, including two commanders, one of whom, known as Haji Hamza, headed Daesh in Fallujah.
"Of course, everything depends on the situation in the theater of war, we also want to minimize casualties among the local population. I think that the operation to liberate the city will take no more than a few days," the source told RIA Novosti.
Fallujah, in the western Anbar province, has been under Daesh control since 2014. Reports emerged recently that militants of the group, banned in many countries worldwide including Russia, began killing residents attempting to leave the city. Daesh is suspected of planning to use the civilian population as human shields in case of an army siege.
