The counter-terrorism forces which spearheaded the city's recapture
are securing only main streets and tactically important buildings,
security sources said.
Islamic State terrorists(Mirror)
Islamic State militants
left Ramadi's streets and buildings boobytrapped with bombs, hampering
efforts to rebuild the city two weeks after Iraq's elite
counter-terrorism forces claimed victory against the militant group
there, officials said.
Ramadi, the
capital of Anbar province, was touted as the first major success for
Iraq's army since it collapsed in the face of Islamic State's lightning
advance across the country's north and west 18 months ago.
The
militants have been pushed to Ramadi's eastern suburbs, but almost all
of the city, which was battered by U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic
State, remains off-limits to its nearly half a million displaced
residents, most of whom fled before the army advance.
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"Most areas are now under the security forces' control," Anbar governor Sohaib al-Rawi said on Saturday at a temporary government complex southeast of the city.
"Most of the streets in Ramadi are mined with explosives so it requires large efforts and expertise," he said.
Specialised bomb disposal teams from the police and civil defence force would begin work "soon", he said.
The
counter-terrorism forces which spearheaded the city's recapture are
securing only main streets and tactically important buildings, security
sources said.
They have built up earth banks at
the entrance of central neighbourhoods deemed clear of militants but
still laden with explosives, and marked buildings' exteriors as "mined",
the sources added.
Snipers have also slowed
progress. Iraqi forces clear them by calling in devastating airstrikes -
more than 55 in the past two weeks, according to the coalition.
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