Iraqi government forces cleared mines and explosives left behind by the Islamic State group in recently recaptured areas of Fallujah, as fighting continued in other parts of the city Saturday, an Iraqi military official said.
(FOX)- Military operations were ongoing in Fallujah, with the air force hitting targets in the city including IS snipers positioned near the main hospital, Brig. Haider al-Obeidi told The Associated Press.
Troops were advancing toward the hospital cautiously, concerned that militants stationed there may use patients as human shields, he said.
Al-Obeidi’s comments came a day after Iraqi special forces swept into Fallujah, recapturing most of the city as IS’s two-year-old grip crumbled after weeks of fighting. The Fallujah offensive began in late May, and IS’s defenses in much of the city collapsed abruptly.
On Friday, al-Obeidi said that Iraqi troops controlled 80 percent of the city, with IS fighters concentrated in four districts on its northern edge.
It was a major step toward removing the Islamic State group from its last major foothold in Iraq’s western Anbar province, the heartland of the country’s Sunni minority. Should Fallujah be declared fully recaptured, this would leave the city of Mosul — Iraq’s second largest — as IS’s only remaining urban stronghold in the country.