IS Militants Besiege 450 Tribal Fighters in Iraq's Anbar Province: Reports

The Islamic State with a group of armored vehicles and tanks from Hit [Hiit] city managed to trap 450 Sunni tribal fighters in the western Iraqi province of Anbar.

MOSCOW, December 12 (Sputnik) — Members of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group have managed to besiege 450 Sunni tribal fighters in the western Iraqi province of Anbar, the Anadolu Agency reports.

“ISIL [IS]militants moved with a group of armored vehicles and tanks from Hit [Hiit] city while taking Al-Jazeera road [in Anbar province] and managed to trap 450 fighters after controlling the Mahbubiya and Gurna areas[of the province],” a source told the news agency Thursday under the condition of anonymity.

According to Anadolu, Iraqi armed forces started a military operation against IS in Anbar on Thursday morning with the aim of retaking Hiit. The pro-government tribal fighters supported the armed forces in their operation.

IS controls many areas in Anbar and has been attempting to capture the entire province, which has led to increased armed conflicts between the militant group and Iraqi security forces, as reported by Anadolu.

The IS extremist militant group has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012 and has declared a caliphate on the territories it has captured across eastern Syria as well as northern and western Iraq. The extremist militant group has been performing public crucifixions, beheadings and hostage-taking among other atrocities.

The US-led international coalition against the militant group has been performing airstrikes on IS targets in Syria and Iraq, but is not involved in ground military operations.