BAGHDAD — Only a third of Fallujah has been “cleared” of Islamic State militants, the U.S.-led coalition said Tuesday, days after the Iraqi government declared victory in the city west of Baghdad, which was held by the extremists for more than two years.
Other parts of the city are “contested,” said U.S. Army Col. Christopher Garver, the Baghdad-based spokesman for the coalition, with clashes underway between Iraqi forces and IS fighters. Most of the cleared terrain is in the south of the city and “clearing operations continue outward from the city center,” Garver added.
Iraqi forces pushed into the center of Fallujah on Friday, retaking a government complex and hospital. That evening Brig. Gen. Haider al-Obedi, with Iraq’s special forces, told The Associated Press his troops controlled 80 percent of the city.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Friday that Fallujah had “returned to the embrace of the nation,” and that remaining IS pockets would be “cleaned out within hours.”
“What it looks like is (an IS) defensive belt around the city with not as stiff defenses inside,” Garver said, explaining that as Iraqi forces move out from the city center they may encounter pockets of stiff resistance.
“That could be their toughest fighting,” Garver said.
Iraqi special forces backed by U.S.-led airstrikes have taken control of the neighborhoods of al-Shurta and al-Jughaifi, al-Obeidi told the AP on Tuesday. He said Iraqi military engineers were clearing the left-over bombs.
The top special forces commander for the Fallujah operation told local al-Sumaria TV late Monday that the offensive killed 2,500 IS fighters. Iraqi troops have not disclosed their losses in Fallujah, though the Islamic State group claims to have killed dozens.
The operation has fueled an exodus of thousands of families, overwhelming camps run by the government and aid groups.
The U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday that more than 85,000 people have fled Fallujah and the surrounding area since the offensive began. UNHCR spokeswoman Ariane Rummery said she expected that thousands more “could still be planning to leave the city” an appealed for more aid.
The U.S. State Department announced an additional $20 million in aid to UNHCR in response to appeals for emergency needs.
“This will be part of a larger package of humanitarian assistance that will be announced later this year, so there’s more aid coming,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said.
Fallujah is the last IS bastion in the Anbar province.
