Iraqi troops launch manhunt for ISIL militants in Iraq
Iraqi commander says the operation aims to regain captured regions in northern Iraqi province of Anbar
ANBAR, Iraq
The Iraqi army has launched a wide-scale operation against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants in Ramadi city of northern Anbar province, an Iraqi commander said Saturday.
Rachid Fallih, the commander of Anbar Operation Force, told the Anadolu Agency that the operation was aimed at regaining the areas captured by ISIL militants.
Fallih said that Iraqi troops were backed with the airstrikes launched by the U.S.-led coalition's warplanes and claimed that militant groups received "heavy losses."
The commander, however, did not provide any details as to casualties from both sides.
Iraq has been gripped by violence since ISIL captured large swathes of land in the country in June, later declaring an Islamic "caliphate” on the territories under its control.
The U.S. and its Arab allies began bombing ISIL targets inside Syria in late September, while conducting airstrikes in Iraq since August.
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