Iraq sends in Shiite militias as Daesh overruns Ramadi

The Iraqi government said on Sunday it would dispatch allied Shiite fighters to the mostly Sunni province of Anbar after a retreat by security forces in the face of advancing Islamic State militants there.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered the Shiite paramilitaries, known as the Popular Mobilization, to be prepared for fighting the jihadists in Anbar, which is Iraq's largest province, state broadcaster al-Iraqiya reported.

The move comes in response to "pleas" from Anbar's local government and tribal leaders, according to the report.

Shiite militamen have played a substantial role in recapturing several areas from Islamic State in Iraq since the government forces, backed by US-led warplanes, last year launched a military campaign to drive the radical Sunni group out of the country.

The Iraqi government was previously hesistant about dispatching the Shiite militiamen to fight jihadists in Anbar, fearing the move would anger the local Sunnis.

Since taking office in September, al-Abadi, a Shiite, has been keen to drum up the support of Iraq's Sunni minority in fighting Islamic State.

The decision to send the Shiite allies to Anbar comes after the extremists overran the last district held by government forces in Ramadi, the capital city of Anbar that stretches from Baghdad to Syrian border.

The jihadists captured Malaab district in the southern part of Ramadi, two days after controlling most areas of the city that is located some 110 kilometres west of Baghdad.

"Daesh was able to take control of Malaab, considered the last bastion of security forces in Ramadi, after sending hundreds of its fighters into the district," a military official told dpa, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that at least 10 government soldiers and allied tribal fighters were killed in the clashes that preceded the extremists' takeover of the district.

Security troops meanwhile were forced to retreat from a local command headquarters on the northern outskirts of Ramadi, according to another military official.

The retreat was due to a siege and heavy attacks by Islamic State fighters on the location, the official said, asking not to be named.

Dubai-based broadcaster Al Arabiya reported that Ramadi has come under the full control of the jihadists. The broadcaster aired footage of what it said were Iraqi security forces fleeing from the city. 

Islamic State has controlled large areas of Sunni-dominated northern and western Iraq since the group launched a lightning offensive in June, during which government forces collapsed and fled.

Islamic State forces also control vast territory in neighbouring Syria.

The Syrian army on Sunday pushed Islamic State insurgents out of areas they had occupied in the desert town of Palmyra, home to an ancient city that UNESCO has declared a World Heritage Site, a monitoring group said.

Government forces, aided by heavy shelling, drove the militants out of most of the modern town's northern district, reversing their advances from the day before, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Britain-based watchdog said that some 295 people had been killed in the region since Islamic State launched an assault on the town of al-Sukhnah, north-east of Palmyra, on Wednesday.

They included 49 people executed by Islamic State and allied local fighters as collaborators with the government, the Observatory said.

Some 123 government forces and 115 jihadists were also killed in the fighting.

Islamic State's advance on Palmyra has raised fears about the fate of its ruined ancient city, which was a major trading centre and the capital of a short-lived empire between the first and third centuries AD.

The radical group has repeatedly destroyed and looted artefacts at ancient sites that fell under its control in Iraq.