Iraq says defeats IS infiltration near Ramadi

RAMADI, Iraq: Islamic State group fighters seized areas around Ramadi, west of Baghdad, on Wednesday in an apparent attempt at a diversion from offensives on its last Iraqi footholds but were swiftly defeated, security sources said. The jihadist infiltrators briefly occupied three areas near the city, which is the capital of mainly Sunni Arab Anbar province, long a bastion of insurgency, the sources said. But after several hours of heavy fighting in which there were deaths on both sides, all three areas were retaken. “The security forces and the tribes retook control of the Al-Tash, Majr and Kilometer Seven districts,” provincial police chief Major General Hadi Razij Kassar told reporters.

“All the Daesh members were killed,” he added, using an Arabic acronym for IS.