IS suicide attacks in Anbar province kill 17 troops

Associated Press

BAGHDAD

As Iraqi forces gathered for a major new offensive to try to take back the sprawling Sunni heartland of Anbar province, Islamic State militants struck first, unleashing a wave of suicide bombings that killed at least 17 soldiers.

The attacks outside the extremist- held city of Fallujah came just hours after the Iraqi government announced the start of a wide-scale operation to recapture areas under Islamic State control in the vast desert province that stretches to the border with Jordan.

The militants used a sandstorm that engulfed most of Iraq to launch the deadly wave of bombings late Tuesday night, Brig. Gen Saad Maan Ibrahim, the spokesman for the Joint Military Command, told The Associated Press.

He said it was not clear how many suicide attackers were involved in the bombings but they struck from multiple directions at the Iraqi troops, who were gathered near a water-control station and a lock system on a canal between the Euphrates River and Lake Tharthar as they prepared to deploy.

Last month, the water station near Fallujah fell into the hands of the militants after attacks that also included multiple suicide bombings that killed a general commanding the 1st Division and a dozen other officers and soldiers, Ibrahim said.

Iraqi government forces retook the station a few days later. Fallujah lies to the east of the Anbar provincial capital of Ramadi, which was captured 10 days ago by the Islamic State militants in a major defeat for Iraqi troops.

The campaign to retake Anbar, which is said to be backed by Shiite militias and pro-government Sunni fighters, is deemed critical in the Iraqi military’s regaining momentum in the fight against the Islamic State group.