Jihadists attack Iraqi forces in Anbar

Baghdad

Islamic State group fighters attacked Iraqi police and soldiers in an area considered a major staging ground for operations to reconquer Anbar province, security sources said.

IS fighters used suicide car bombs to attack government and allied forces in Khaldiyah, a town in the Euphrates valley that lies between Fallujah and Ramadi, Anbar's two main cities. 

A police lieutenant colonel said IS fighters stormed the town's Al-Madiq neighbourhood "following clashes that forced army and federal police to abandon their positions." 

"Local police and tribal fighters were left alone to fight Daesh in that area," he said, using an Arabic acronym for the group that took over large parts of Iraq last year.

"After entering Al-Madiq, the organisation deployed fighters with suicide vests in houses and streets," he said.

A spokesperson for Anbar tribes fighting alongside the government said federal security forces were attempting to regain the initiative.

"The aim of the operation is to regain control of Al-Madiq and kill the suicide attackers before they target security forces and tribal fighters," Sheikh Sufian al-Ithawi said.

In its daily online radio broadcast, IS said it had launched three suicide car bomb attacks in the Khaldiyah area.

It also claimed in a statement that it had killed tens of pro-government fighters and captured a brigadier general, although security officials gave no confirmation.