Iraqi forces advance against ISIL in Anbar

BAGHDAD - Agence France-Presse

Iraqi government forces gesture to the camera after retaking the town of Zankura, northwest Ramadi, from ISIL. AFP Photo

Iraqi forces retook a town from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Anbar province on March 10 and evacuated 10,000 civilians as they advanced up the Euphrates valley, a security spokesman said. 

“Counter-terrorism forces and army troops liberated the Zankura area in a swift military operation,” Sabah al-Noman, spokesman of the elite Counter-Terrorism Service, told AFP.

“They evacuated 10,000 people who were transferred to a safe area,” he said.

An army colonel in the region said they would be offered first aid and then taken to camps for displaced people.

Zankura lies on a bend in the Euphrates river northwest of Ramadi, capital of Anbar province that Iraqi forces brought under full control last month.