Seven people including two police officers have been killed and 20 others wounded in clashes in the Iraqi cities of Ramadi and Fallujah on Tuesday.
Muayyed Humeysh, a colonel of the Iraqi army, told the Anadolu Agency that Iraqi troops clashed with militants led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Ramadi and two police officers were killed.
Humeysh claimed that the militants suffered big losses in the gun battle and were forced from the Ramadi region.
In Fallujah, five civilians were killed and 20 wounded in the shelling reportedly launched by the Iraqi army, local sources said.
ISIL, who already control parts of Syria, have extended their reach into Iraq since June 10 when they seized Iraq's second-largest city Mosul and captured a number of other cities in the north including Tikrit and Tal Afar.
They also reportedly control Al Qaim, Rawah, Anah, Al Ratba and Haditha in the western province of Al Anbar.
Meanwhile, Iraqi ambassador to Iran, Mohamed Majed al-Sheikh, held a press conference in the capital Tehran and claimed the ISIL militants and their supporters were launching a propaganda campaign as well as offensives.
The ambassador, who blamed the media for reporting that ISIL captured many cities and towns in Iraq, said the situation was better than it was in the past and slammed the media, supported by ISIL, for their baseless stories.
"Terrorists do not aim at the Iraqi government, but aim at removing the will of the Iraqi people," said al-Sheikh who also alleged that there were problems with ballot boxes in the April 30 parliamentary elections.
www.aa.com.tr/en
