Iraqi forces enter Falluja, bombs go off in Baghdad

The deadliest of Monday’s attacks took place in the northern, Shiite-dominated Shaab neighbourhood of Baghdad, where a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a checkpoint next to a commercial area, killing eight civilians and three soldiers. The explosion also wounded up to 14 people, a police officer said. 

A suicide car bomber struck an outdoor market in the town of Tarmiyah, about 50 km north of Baghdad, Killing four civilians and two policemen, another police officer said, adding that 19 people were wounded in that bombing. 

In Baghdad’s eastern Shiite Sadr city district, a motorcycle bomb went off at a market, killing three and wounding 10, police said. Medical officials confir med casualty figures. Shortly after the bombings hit, the extremist IS, which has been behind recent deadly attacks in Baghdad and beyond, claimed responsibility for the attacks in Shaab and Sadr in an online statement. 

Such assaults are seen as an attempt by the militants to distract the security forces’ attention away from the front lines engaged in retaking the city of Falluja which has been in IS hands for over two years. The operation was launched a week ago, with Iraqi forces teaming up with paramilitary troops and backed by aerial support from the US-led coalition. 

On Monday, Iraqi forces entered Falluja from three directions, commanders said. “They entered Fallujah under air cover from the international coalition, the Iraqi air force and army aviation and supported by artillery and tanks,” said Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi, the commander in charge of the operation. 

Only a few hundred families managed to slip out of the Falluja area ahead of the assault on the city, with an estimated 50,000 civilians still trapped inside, sparking fears the jihadists could try to use them as human shields. Falluja is one of just two major urban centres in Iraq still held by IS.