Daesh has seized three villages near Ramadi, residents Anbar province told the Associated Press.
Daesh launched an offensive early Wednesday morning and took the villages of Sjariyah, Albu-Ghanim and Soufiya, which were previously controlled by the Iraqi government.
Clashes are ongoing, according to residents from Soufiya, where Daesh bombed a police station and claimed a power plant during the offensive. The sources, who requested anonymity, also told the news agency the ground operation by the Iraqi military was backed by air power.
The offensive comes on the heels of Daesh's recent loss in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, where Iraqi forces and Shiite militiamen gained major ground against the group earlier this year. It also comes just as Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi arrived in Washington for talks with US President Barack Obama to request more US coalition aid for his country.
Meanwhile, a deeping humanitarian crisis is becoming clear just outside Baghdad, where several militant attacks have killed some 43 people in the last two dats.
