Iraqi forces 'advance into Islamic State-held Ramadi'

Iraqi government forces are advancing into the centre of the city of Ramadi, which is controlled by jihadist group Islamic State (IS), officials say.

Security sources told the BBC that troops and allied tribesmen, backed by air strikes, had already retaken two districts, and entered two others.

They were heading towards the main government complex, and had come up against snipers and suicide bombers.

Ramadi fell to IS in May in an embarrassing defeat for the Iraqi army.

Last month, government forces completed their encirclement of the predominantly Sunni Arab city, about 90km (55 miles) west of Baghdad, cutting off militants inside the centre from their strongholds elsewhere in Anbar province and in neighbouring Syria.

'Human shields'

Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service spokesman Sabah al-Numani said troops from the elite force, supported by the army and police, had begun the assault on central Ramadi at dawn and were advancing towards the government complex.

"We went into the centre of Ramadi from several fronts and we began purging residential areas," he told the AFP news agency.

"The city will be cleared in the coming 72 hours.

Mr Numani added that the counter-terrorism forces had not faced strong resistance, "only snipers and suicide bombers, and this is a tactic we expected".

Sources in the Iraqi military's Anbar Operations Command told the BBC that engineers had built temporary bridges over the River Euphrates, which flows along the north and west of the city centre. This had enabled troops to enter directly the al-Haouz district, south-west of the government complex.

By Tuesday afternoon, government forces had retaken the al-Thubat and al-Aramil districts, and entered nearby al-Malaab and Bakir, the sources said.

Iraqi intelligence estimates that between 250 and 300 militants are inside Ramadi.

The US military says they have developed a strong defensive system, including using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to create minefields.

On Monday, the defence ministry warned that the jihadists had prevented civilians leaving since leaflets warning of an assault were dropped over the city last month.

"They plan to use them as human shields," spokesman Naseer Nuri told the Reuters news agency, without indicating the number of civilians who were at risk.

Sources inside Ramadi told the BBC on Tuesday that IS militants had also carried out a campaign of raids and mass arrests of residents in districts still under their control, in an attempt to prevent an uprising in support of the government offensive.

The operation to recapture Ramadi, which began in early November, has made slow progress, mainly because the government has chosen not to use the powerful Shia-dominated paramilitary force that helped it regain the northern city of Tikrit to avoid increasing sectarian tensions.

IS has lost control of several key towns in Iraq to government and Kurdish forces since over-running large swathes of the country's west and north in June 2014 and proclaiming the creation of a "caliphate" that also extended into neighbouring Syria.

On Monday, analysis by IHS Jane's suggested that IS had lost 14% of its overall territory in Iraq and Syria, about 12,800 sq km (4,940 sq miles), over the past year.

Despite this, the group has been able to capture new territory of strategic value over the same period, including Ramadi and Palmyra in Syria's Homs province. It also still controls the Iraqi cities of Falluja, east of Ramadi, and Mosul, in the north.

What is Islamic State?

IS is a notoriously violent Islamist group which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq. It has declared its territory a caliphate - a state governed in accordance with Islamic law - under its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

What does it want?

IS demands allegiance from all Muslims, rejects national borders and seeks to expand its territory. It adheres to its own extreme interpretation of Sunni Islam and regards non-believers as deserving of death.

How strong is IS?

IS projects a powerful image, partly through propaganda and sheer brutality, and is the world's richest insurgent group. It has about 30,000 fighters but is facing daily bombing by a US-led multi-national coalition, which has vowed to destroy it.