BAGHDAD // Iraqi government forces battling an Al Qaeda offensive near the Syrian border launched an air raid on Ramadi city on Sunday killing 25 militants, according to local officials.
Government officials in western Anbar province met tribal leaders to urge them to help repel Al Qaeda-linked militants who have taken over parts of Ramadi and Falluja, strategic Iraqi cities on the Euphrates River.
Al Qaeda’s Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) has been steadily tightening its grip in the vast Anbar province in recent months in a bid to create a Sunni Muslim state straddling the frontier with Syria.
But last week’s capture of positions in Ramadi and large parts of Falluja was the first time in years that Sunni insurgents had taken ground in the province’s major cities and held their positions for days.
In Falluja, ISIL’s task has been made easier by disgruntled tribesmen who have joined its fight against the government.
“As a local government we are doing our best to avoid sending the army to Falluja....now we are negotiating outside the city with the tribes to decide how to enter the city without allowing the army to be involved,” said Falih Eisa, a member of Anbar’s provincial council.
One option being considered to oust Al Qaeda from Falluja would be for army units and tribal fighters to form a “belt” around the city, isolating it and cutting supply routes for militants, military and local officials said.
They would also urge residents to leave the city.
“The siege could take days, we are betting on the time to give people a chance to leave the city, weaken the militants and exhaust them,” a senior military officer.
Tension has been running high across Anbar — which borders Syria and was the heart of Iraq’s Sunni insurgency after the 2003 US-led invasion — since Iraqi police broke up a Sunni protest last week, resulting in deadly clashes.
Multiple car bombings in Baghdad that killed 20 people and wounded at least 40 on Sunday underscored the government’s lack of control ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for April.
* Reuters with additional reporting by the Associated Press
