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Iraqi Forces Push Deeper into Fallujah: Liberation from Daesh within Days

Iraqi Forces Push Deeper into Fallujah: Liberation from Daesh within Days
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Iraq's elite counter-terrorism forces Wednesday pushed deeper into Daesh-held Fallujah, more than two weeks after the operation to retake the city from the terrorist group started, a senior military official said.

Iraqi Forces Push Deeper into Fallujah: Liberation from Daesh within Days

After securing the southern edge of the city Sunday, Iraqi Special Forces entered the neighborhood of Shuhada Wednesday morning, Maj Gen Hadi Zayid Kassar, deputy commander of the counter-terrorism forces in Fallujah told The Associated Press.

The operation to retake Fallujah is expected to be one of the most difficult yet - this city in Iraq's western Anbar province is symbolically important to the militant group and has been a bastion of support for anti-government militants since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

Artillery and rocket fire cleared the way and a single column of black Humvees was seen moving in between the low rise buildings of Shuhada, a southern neighborhood in Fallujah.

Just before the Wednesday morning push, Lt Gen Abdel Wahab al-Saadi drove up to the edge of the territory that Iraqi forces control on Fallujah's southern part.

Surrounding buildings have been shredded by artillery fire and the simple dirt roads running through the largely agricultural neighborhood have been churned by Iraqi troops' heavily armored vehicles - a testimonial to the ferocity of the fighting.

Meanwhile, a high-ranking Iraqi army commander confirmed that government forces, together with fighters from allied Popular Mobilization units, are poised to liberate Fallujah from Daesh within the next few days.

"The security forces are advancing towards central Fallujah from the southern side but doing so cautiously, to preserve civilian lives," Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi, the commander of Fallujah Liberation Operations, said on Tuesday.

"In the coming days," he said, "we will declare the liberation of Fallujah" which is located roughly 69 kilometers west of the capital, Baghdad.

The Iraqi Joint Operations Command announced in a statement that the astounding number of improvised explosive devices planted by Daesh militants has slowed the progress of army soldiers to push deep into Fallujah.

"There are tunnels and between 150 and 200 bombs are defused every 100 meters," the statement read.

"Our information is that Daesh has prepared car bombs which they are hiding in homes, with the intention of attacking us when we enter," it added.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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