05 July 2014

Beginning in Ramadi, the city is under a total curfew since last night and into today after reports revealing that the armed groups are intending to launch a major operation aimed at seizing all of Ramadi. There has also been a concentrated deployment of security forces and tribal volunteers to protect banks and public venues; bridges have also been closed down and connecting streets within the city have also been blocked off in order to prevent the gunmen from taking over the areas they had not yet been able to seize within the city.

There have also been fierce clashes in the districts along Street 20, in addition to the Al-Jazeera district where the detonation of an explosive device killed 4 security personnel and wounded 7 others. This has led the local government to advise security forces of a possible offensive by the gunmen to take control of the city.

In Fallujah, there have been heavy clashes and shelling in the areas along the main Baghdad - Fallujah highway. The clashes have also spread to Al-Garma. Security forces say the shelling has killed more than 20 gunmen in the southern and southwestern sectors of the city. The Fallujah General Hospital has announced that 3 citizens have been killed and 7 wounded by the ongoing fighting and indiscriminate shelling of a number of the city's districts.

Meanwhile, gunmen have blown up the Al-Saqlawiya Bridge that connects Fallujah with the way to Baghdad through Al-Saqlawiya township.

In Anbar's western regions, groups of gunmen are still controlling Al-Qa'im, Rawa, Ana, and Rutba, as well as some parts adjacent to Haditha where security forces have announced that they have reinforced their positions at the Haditha Dam to face a possible advance by the gunmen.