Fallujah ‘fully liberated’ from Daesh: Iraq police head

By Suleiman al-Qubaisi

BAGHDAD

A senior Iraqi police commander on Sunday declared the western city of Fallujah fully liberated from the Daesh terrorist group after a more than month-long offensive.

In exclusive statements to Anadolu Agency, federal police chief Raed Shaker said Iraqi forces and the allied Hashd al-Shaabi -- an umbrella group of Iraqi Shia militias -- have managed to liberate the city from Daesh militants.

“Security forces have imposed full control of Fallujah after fierce battles that inflicted heavy losses on [Daesh],” he said.

He said that Iraqi forces were now clearing the city’s northern districts from Daesh militants.

In April, the Iraqi army, backed by U.S.-led warplanes, launched an offensive to recapture Fallujah from Daesh, which overran the city in early 2014.

Iraq has suffered a devastating security vacuum since mid-2014, when Daesh captured the northern city of Mosul and overran large swathes of territory in the northern and western parts of the country.

According to the UN, more than 3.4 million people are now displaced in Iraq -- more than half of them children -- while more than 10 million are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.

*Anadolu Agency Correspondent Ali Abo Rezeg contributed to this story from Ankara.