Baghdad, May 31 (IANS): Iraqi security forces carried out an offensive Saturday to recapture a town held by gunmen in the volatile western province of Anbar.
An elite Iraqi military unit, backed by a brigade of armoured vehicles, stormed the militant-seized town of Saqlawiyah, some 50 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, and clashed fiercely with gunmen believed to be linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), an al-Qaida breakaway group in Iraq, Xinhua quoted a source in the provincial command operations as saying Saturday.
The source said that the troops seized parts of the town after several hours of fighting with the gunmen. However, there has been no confirmation of the casualties.
In a separate incident, mortar shelling in several neighbourhoods in Fallujah wounded seven people and damaged several houses, a medical source said.
Three of the wounded were from one family, the source said, adding that some of the victims are in critical condition.
In addition, a roadside bomb explosion killed a policeman in Abu Ghraib area, some 25 km west of Baghdad, Xinhua cited a local police source as saying.
Insurgent attacks continue in the volatile Sunni Arab area west of Baghdad that stretches through the Anbar province.
The western Anbar province has witnessed fierce clashes that flared up after Iraqi police dismantled an anti-government protest site outside the provincial capital city of Ramadi in December last year.