Air strikes and mortars overnight targeted neighbourhoods inside the
city proper where Islamic State is thought to maintain its
headquarters. But the bombardment had eased by daylight.
Russian
Mi-28Ns from the Berkuty (Golden Eagles) helicopter display team fly in
formation during the Aviadarts military aviation competition at the
Dubrovichi range near Ryazan, Russia, August 2, 2015.
Iraqi forces clashed with
Islamic State militants near Falluja on Monday while bombing central
districts in the initial hours of an offensive to retake the militant
stronghold just west of Baghdad that could last several weeks.
Some
of the first direct engagement occurred in al-Hayakil area on the
city's southern outskirts, a resident said. Troops also approached the
northern suburb of Garma, the top municipal official there said, to
clear out militants before turning attention towards the city centre.
Air strikes and mortars overnight targeted neighbourhoods inside the city proper where Islamic State is thought to maintain its headquarters. But the bombardment had eased by daylight.
Iraqi
military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, speaking on state
television, described the forces' advance as "careful" and reliant on
engineers to dismantle roadside bombs planted by the militants.
Falluja,
a longtime bastion of Sunni Muslim jihadists, 50 km (30 miles) from
Baghdad, was the first city to fall to Islamic State, in January 2014.
Six months later, the group declared a caliphate spanning large parts of
Iraq and neighbouring Syria.
Iraqi forces have
surrounded the city since last year but focused most combat operations
on IS-held territories further west and north. The authorities have
pledged to retake Mosul this year in keeping with a U.S. plan to
dislodge Islamic State from their de facto capitals in Iraq and Syria.
But
the Falluja operation, which is not considered a military prerequisite
for advancing on Mosul, could push back that timeline. Two offensives by
U.S. forces against al Qaeda insurgents in Falluja in 2004, which left
the city badly damaged, each lasted about a month.
There are currently between 500 and 700 IS militants in Falluja, according to a recent U.S. military estimate.
Army
helicopters were shelling IS positions in nearby Garma and targeting
movement in and out of the area in order to weaken resistance enough for
ground troops to enter, Mayor Ahmed Mukhlif told Reuters.
The defence minister and army chief of staff visited part of that northern axis on Monday, a ministry statement said.
POPULATED CITY
Prime
Minister Haider al-Abadi, who also faces political and economic crises
in the major OPEC producer, visited a command centre set up nearby to
oversee operations, exchanging his suit for the black uniform of an
elite commando unit.
Announcing the offensive in a
late-night speech, Abadi said it would be conducted by the army,
police, counter-terrorism forces, local tribal fighters and a coalition
of mostly Shi'ite Muslim militias.
Iraqi officials
say the militias, including ones backed by Iran, may be restricted to
operating outside the city limits, as they were largely in the battle
for nearby Ramadi six months ago, to avoid aggravating sectarian
tensions with Sunni residents.
State television
showed footage of armoured vehicles sitting among palm groves on the
city's outskirts, a green tracer glow emanating from shells and machine
gun fire.
Video showed a family standing in the
daylight outside a simple one-storey home, cheering and waving a white
flag as a military convoy passed by.
The
government has called on civilians to flee and said it would open safe
corridors to areas south of Falluja. Residents living in the centre said
they had moved to relative safety in outlying northern areas but
roadside bombs were preventing them from leaving the city.
Iraqi
and U.S. officials estimate there are as many as 100,000 civilians
still living in Falluja, a city on the Euphrates river whose population
was three times that size before the war. A six-month siege has created
acute shortages of food and medicine, pushing the city towards
humanitarian crisis.
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