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ISIS Advances Into Iraq's Ramadi Amid Wave Of Suicide Attacks
BAGHDAD, May 15 (Reuters) - Islamic State militants raised their black flag over the local government headquarters in the Iraqi city of Ramadi on Friday and claimed victory through mosque loudspeakers after overrunning most of the western provincial capital.
If Ramadi were to fall it would be the first major city seized by the insurgents in Iraq since security forces and paramilitary groups began pushing them back last year.
The insurgents attacked Ramadi overnight using six suicide car bombs to reach the city center, where the Anbar provincial government compound is located, police sources said.
Fighting continued in one district of Ramadi, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, and government forces were still in control of a military command center to the west of the city.
"The situation in Ramadi is dire, but the city has not fallen and the battle against criminal Daesh is still ongoing," Anbar governor Sohaib al-Rawi said on Twitter, using an Arabic name for Islamic State.
Ramadi has been fought over for months, but the insurgents renewed their offensive there in April, crushing government forces' efforts to retake Anbar, Iraq's largest province, and move north to the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul.
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