Concerns grow for trapped civilians
More than 50,000 people were trapped in Fallujah as an offensive to push the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (IS) group from the Iraqi city intensified.
Hundreds of people fled on Friday as humanitarian conditions rapidly deteriorated with Iraqi forces continuing to surround the city, determined to flush out the IS fighters inside.
The final battle to recapture the Islamic State stronghold near Baghdad will start in "days, not weeks", a Shia militia leader said on Friday.
The first phase of the offensive that started on Monday is nearly finished, with the complete encirclement of the city that lies 50 km (32 miles) west of the Iraqi capital, said Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the Iranian-backed Badr Organization.
The United Nations said nearly 800 people had escaped over the past week, but most of those from the outskirts of the city, where ISIL control was weaker.
Iraqi military officials insisted that safe corridors would be established to allow civilians to flee, but residents said IS checkpoints along the city's main roads have made escape nearly impossible.
Fallujah, along with Mosul, is one of only two major Iraqi cities still controlled by IS. It became in January 2014 the first Iraqi city to be captured by the group, six months before it declared its caliphate.
Baghdad-based US Colonel Steve Warren said that over the last four days, 20 strikes in the city had destroyed ISfighting positions and gun emplacements.
"We've killed more than 70 enemy fighters, including Maher al-Bilawi, who is the commander of ISIL forces in Fallujah," Warren said.
Coalition officials estimated earlier this week that 500-700 IS fighters remain in the city, according to a US military estimate, hiding amongst the civilian population.
In Syria, Turkish and US-led coalition airstrikes killed 104 Islamic State militants in retaliation for the latest attack on a Turkish border province Kilis, Turkish media reported yesterday, citing military sources.Kilis has been hit by rockets from IS-controlled territory more than 70 times since January, killing 21 people including children.
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