About 700 Islamic State fighters are believed to be hiding in the centre and eastern outskirts of Ramadi days after Iraqi forces claimed victory over the militants in the western city, the US-led coalition said yesterday.
Much of the centre of the Anbar provincial capital still needs to be cleared of explosives laid by the militants who had seized the city in May, the coalition said. That will delay the return of tens of thousands of civilians who fled to Baghdad and other parts of Iraq.
After months of cautious advances backed by coalition air strikes, the Iraqi army retook Ramadi on Sunday in its first big victory against the hardline militants who swept through a third of Iraq in 2014.
“Within what we call central Ramadi they estimate still up to 400 Daesh (Islamic State) members and then once you go east of that towards Falluja you’ve got about 300 out there in that direction,” US Army Captain Chance McCraw, a coalition intelligence officer, told reporters in Baghdad.
“In central Ramadi, the house-borne IED (improvised explosive device) continues to be a threat even once CTS (counter-terrorism service) goes through and that’s why you don’t see civilians moving back into various areas,” he added.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi yesterday ordered the immediate formation of a high-level committee including the Anbar governor and senior federal government officials to stabilise and rebuild Ramadi.
He urged the immediate removal of explosives and the restoration of basic services to allow the safe return of civilians to their homes.
The UN estimates initial reconstruction needs in Ramadi require about $20mn, but the longer term costs are likely to be much greater for a city battered by US air strikes and Islamic State explosives over the past six months.
The trade ministry said it was preparing to send emergency food aid to Ramadi.
Some areas of Ramadi are littered with explosives.
McCraw said that in one of the more heavily defended areas, Iraqi forces had found about 300 explosives planted along a 150m stretch south of the main government complex. After clearing that area, they found more bombs scattered every 50m or so, he said.
Nearly 1.4mn people have been displaced from all of Anbar province, according to UN estimates. The Iraqi government says most civilians fled Ramadi before it launched its assault on the city, which formerly had a population of more than 400,000.
McCraw and other coalition officials declined to estimate how long it would take Iraqi forces to clear the rest of the areas. They said a few hundred members of the Anbar police had arrived to help hold areas cleared by the better trained and equipped counter-terrorism forces, which spearheaded the Ramadi offensive.
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