20 July 2015

In Fallujah today, ISIL gunmen have attacked the barracks of the the Iraqi army's 3rd Regiment in the industrial zone of southern Fallujah. The Regiment's commanding officer and 3 Iraqi soldiers were killed, as were at least 17 of the attacking gunmen. The fighting lasted for more than three hours, but security forces supported by Iraqi and Coalition air strikes were ultimately able to turn back the attackers.

In military operations along the city's perimeter, security forces have been reinforcing their positions while launching mortar and artillery attacks on ISIL positions in the outskirts of the city; security sources have reported that 9 ISIL gunmen, including 3 non-Iraqi Arab snipers were killed. The Fallujah General Hospital has reported that the indiscriminate bombardment exchanges have struck a number of residential districts, killing 3 residents and injuring 9.

In Garma, the Federal Police's 30th Regiment has clashed with ISIL gunmen around the town's center that is still the scene of fierce clashes for its control.

In Ramadi, General Ra'ed Jawdat of the Federal Police has announced that security forces have killed 11 ISIL gunmen in the Eastern Husayba Township in an attack mounted by government forces.

In Ramadi's southern sector, security forces have taken control of the entire highway connecting the southern and western districts of the city. Hundreds of families are still evacuating the city, and there have been loudspeaker calls upon the city's civilian to leave the city, in anticipation of the imminent assault on the provincial capital.