Iraqi military forces took control of the central government complex in the city of Ramadi, liberating the city from the ISIS terror group hold.
But General Ismail al-Mahlawi, head of military operations in Anbar, said that troops had only retaken the complex itself, and parts of the city remained under ISIS control. The complex was thought to have been the last holdout for a few dozen ISIS militia members who had tried to slow the Iraqi advance through the city with snipers and improvised explosive devices.
"Yes, the city of Ramadi has been liberated. The Iraqi counter-terrorism forces have raised the Iraqi flag over the government complex in Anbar," joint operations spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Rahsool said in a statement broadcast on state television.
Earlier today, another Iraqi General told The Associated Press that the militants had stopped firing at the troops from inside the complex at around 8:00 a.m. (12 a.m. EST) and that "we believe that they were either killed or fled."
The capture of Ramadi, the capital of mainly Sunni Muslim Anbar province in the Euphrates River valley west of the capital, would deprive ISIS militants of their biggest prize of 2015.
The Iraqi army had already retaken the city of Tikrit from the jihadists in the spring. The final stronghold for ISIS in Iraq is Mosul in the north, which the government is likely to target next.
State television broadcast footage of troops, Humvee vehicles and tanks advancing through Ramadi's streets amid piles of rubble and collapsed houses. Some districts appeared to have been completely destroyed by the advance.
Officials did not give any immediate figures for the number of people killed in the battle. The government says most civilians were able to evacuate before it launched its assault.
Anbar provincial council member Falih al-Essawi called on the government to restore services to Ramadi quickly and start rebuilding the city to allow the return of the displaced.
"It will not be easy to convince families to return to a city that lacks basic human needs," he told Reuters.
