Iraq forces free area north of Ramadi from ISIL: Commander

Iraqi forces have recaptured a strategic area north of the city of Ramadi in the restive province of Anbar from the ISIL Takfiri group, a top Iraqi commander says.

Leader of Iraq’s Badr Organization Hadi al-Ameri said on Friday that Iraqi security forces in cooperation with volunteer forces managed to clear the area of Nazim al-Tharthar of the ISIL terrorists, Iraq’s al-Sumaria satellite TV network reported.

It was also said that the liberation of the city lifted the ISIL siege on the Iraqi forces in the area.

The Iraqi army, with the the support of Shia, Sunni and Kurdish volunteer fighters, has been fighting the Takfiri terrorists to recapture Ramadi which is in the hands of the militants.

In a separate development, the Iraqi Interior Ministry announced that as many as 40 Takfiri militants were killed in Iraqi Air Force airstrikes in an areas west of Ramadi.

Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Saad Moen said that the air raids hit the positions of the terrorist group in the al-Hasba area, and that at least two leaders of the terrorist group were among those killed in the attacks.

The spokesman further said that some of the militants killed in the airstrikes were from other countries.

In another operation east of the city of Ramadi, the Iraqi forces managed to kill at least 13 ISIL militants in the Hasibah district.

Elsewhere in the province, Iraqi fighter jets destroyed two bomb-making factories used by ISIL Takfiri militants located in the city of Heet, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said.

Iraqi volunteer forces discovered and seized Saudi-made equipment, including electronic bombs, rockets, and some automatic munitions, from the ISIL militants in Anbar earlier this week.

Since almost a year ago when the ISIL terrorist group started its campaign of terror in Iraq, the northern and western parts of the country have been witnessing unrest. Iraq’s army has been trying to flush the ISIL terrorists out of the areas they have seized.