BAGHDAD: Iraq security forces have recaptured areas lost earlier to the Islamic State group in and around the battleground city of Ramadi, security officials said on Tuesday.

According to police Maj Omar al-Alawni, government forces regained control of the city’s Pediatric and Maternity Hospital and the surrounding neighborhood late on Monday night after fierce clashes with IS militants.

The hospital is located about 500 metres from a complex of government offices. On Tuesday, Iraqi troops were engaged in intense clashes in an offensive to regain control of Soufiya, one of three villages that fell into the hands of the IS last week, said police Col Mahdi Abbas.

Both officials said the battles turned in favor of government forces after the arrival of reinforcements and weapons from Baghdad. At least 12 militants were killed in the clashes overnight, they said.

Footage showed military black Humvees advancing in a residential area in Ramadi and Iraqi soldiers firing their rifles while taking shelter behind a wall.

The security situation in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, sharply deteriorated after IS seized Soufiya and the two other villages, Sjariyah and Albu-Ghanim, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes.

Elsewhere in Iraq, police said a bomb exploded Tuesday in a commercial street in the town of Madain, just south of Baghdad, killing three people and wounding four.

Later in the day, a roadside bomb hit a police patrol in the capital’s western suburbs, killing two policemen and also wounding four.Medics in nearby hospitals confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2015

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