The army has targeted to flush out the Islamic State (IS) militants from Falluja.

The Iraqi army has intensified attacks against fighters of the terrorist group Islamic State (IS) with the final assault in the group’s bastion of Falluja. The operation to storm Falluja started on May 30, BBC reported citing an official statement.

State forces including members of an elite counter-terrorism unit were reported to be moving into Falluja on several fronts. Government forces are said to have launched a concerted effort for over a week to retake Falluja which has been held by the jihadists since 2014. By yesterday, military sources reportedly said forces were advancing towards its goals, as so far the fighting seemed to be centred on IS defences outside Falluja's city limits. BBC reported that militia leaders taking part in the fighting said there is likely to be a pause before the assault on the city centre begins to allow more civilians to escape.

Retaking Falluja, reports said, is complicated as an estimated 50,000 civilians are trapped inside, with only a few hundred families escaping so far. Falluja and Mosul are the two major cities held by Islamic State fighters in Iraq. The army statement indicated that the IS fighters were putting up resistance with suicide and car bombings. 

In recent attacks which are considered as attempts to deflect attention from the operation in Falluja, the jihadists launched a car bomb at an army checkpoint in the mainly Shia area of Shaab, killing at least 11 people. They also carried out a suicide attack in Sadr City, specifically in the Shia area of Baghdad   and killed at least two people. Another suicide  bomber struck a market in Tarmiya town, some 50 kilometres north of the capital, Baghdad and killed at least seven people.