ISIS Attacks Iraqi Army Base Near Ramadi

ISIS reportedly launched an attack on an Iraqi army base near Ramadi, just days after the city was recaptured by government troops.

A military spokesman said suicide car bombers and fighters wearing explosive belts took part in the attack which killed three Iraqi soldiers and wonded 17 others on Friday.

WMTV reports: Even though Iraqi forces have managed to drive ISIS jihadists out of the center of Ramadi, local tribal leaders said this week that ISIS still controls as much as 25% of the city, and significant pockets of ISIS resistance remain.

Still, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited the bombed-out city this week, raising the Iraqi flag and declaring that 2016 “will be the year we drive ISIS out of Iraq.”

The Sunni extremist group seized the provincial capital in May. It was a humiliating setback for the Iraqi government and the U.S.-led coalition backing Iraqi forces.

Efforts to expel ISIS are expected to take weeks, especially in light of the jihadists’ tactics of hiding among local populations and booby-trapping territory they abandon.

Details about Friday’s attack or attacks have been contradictory.

According to Al-Masdar News  ISIS said it captured 11 army bases, which the Iraqi army has said was false. “It is most probable that the center of Ramadi and its bridges have not been captured by ISIS but these initial reports still linger.”

Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces have begun evacuating civilians with the expectation that ISIS will launch a mass scale attack on the city over the coming days

Setback for Iraqi forces in #Ramadi. #ISIS & ISF sources: “Iraqi forces ambushed & retreated after suffering loses”. pic.twitter.com/5AhCVc14P8

— Garmıyanı #Bakûr (@Sarbarzi) January 1, 2016