ANKARA

 Around 25,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi following Daesh’s conquest of the area, the government said on Tuesday.

Displacement and Migration Minister Derbaz Mohammed said families had taken shelter in Baghdad as well as the south and north of Iraq.

On Sunday, Daesh took control of Ramadi after overrunning Iraqi government forces. Iranian-backed Shia militias have been reportedly gathering to the east of the city, the capital of Sunni-majority Anbar province, in preparation for a counter-attack.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey said in a statement that the setback in Ramadi was "regrettable but not uncommon in warfare."

Daesh’s seizure of Ramadi and large parts of Anbar, a huge province that covers much of western Iraq, follows the recapture of Tikrit, 140 kilometers (86 miles) northwest of Baghdad, from the militants last month.

Daesh have held large swathes of Iraq since June last year when they declared a caliphate.