The Iraqi army has succeeded in taking back a large area of southwest Ramadi, a city of about 110 km west of Baghdad, which was captured by Daesh in May.
"Today, our forces completely cleared the Al-Tameem area after a fierce battle against Daesh gunmen," Sabah al-Noman, spokesman for Iraq's counter-terrorism service, told AFP.
Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province, the largest governorate in Iraq. In 2004 the city had a population of about 450,000 people, the majority of them Sunni Muslims.
Daesh first occupied some parts of Ramadi in June 2014, as well as large areas of Anbar province, and in May 2015 the terrorists took over the city. They had already captured Fallujah, 50 km east of Ramadi, in January 2014.
According to reports, Anbar governor Suhaib al-Rawy called the operation a "gateway to liberate the rest of Ramadi," and Iraqi forces are now working to clear bombs planted in al-Tameem by Daesh.
