Iraqi forces defeat IS infiltration west of Baghdad

Iraqi forces swiftly defeated an infiltration by Islamic State fighters in Ramadi, west of Baghdad on Wednesday after the extremists briefly occupied three areas near the city.

Iraqi troops and paramilitaries retook full control of Ramadi from IS in February 2016 but are still battling to clear the extremists from elsewhere in Anbar province.

After several hours of heavy fighting Iraqi forces retook all three areas infiltrated by IS fighters.

"The security forces and the tribes retook control of the Al-Tash, Majr and Kilometre Seven districts," provincial police chief Major General Hadi Razij Kassar told reporters.

"All the Daesh members were killed," he added.

An Iraqi general told AFP that around 20 IS fighters were killed while two Iraqi security personnel and 18 civilians were wounded, a military source said.

The IS operation was likely an attempt to divert security forces from a military offensive launched last week in the group's last two footholds in Iraq, one of them a series of towns further up the Euphrates Valley from Ramadi.

Last week saw the launch of twin offensives against the Islamic State in the Euphrates Valley near the Syrian border and around the northern town of Hawija.

"A curfew has been imposed on the city of Ramadi and its surroundings to prevent any security breaches," the general said.

Territory captured by the Islamic State group is dwindling fast following the defeat of the extremists in Mosul in July after a nine-month offensive.

The Islamic State group swept through a third of Iraq in 2014, seizing Mosul, the largest city in the north, and reaching the vicinity of Baghdad.