Iraq: Bomb attack stopped in Anbar, caution in Samarra

Iraqi forces have stopped a suicide car bomb attack by Islamic State group (IS) militants in Anbar, western Iraq and made advances in the province, as security forces have imposed tight security measures around the city of Samarra in Salahuddin province.

The Iraqi federal police thwarted a potentially deadly attack by IS on their headquarters in Anbar Friday, according to a local security force.

The jihadist group had tried to blow up two car bombs on Friday morning near the headquarters of the second regiment of the federal police in western Ramadi, the source told al-Araby al-Jadeed.

Security forces used anti-tank missiles to blow up the cars that were being driven by two suicide bombers before they could reach their target, according to the source.

Anbar advances

The Iraqi military supported by armed tribal forces continued their advance south of Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar on Friday.

Local tribal leaders announced that they had liberated three areas south of Ramadi from IS control in preparation for storming the city.

Head of the security committee in Khalidiya council - a district in Anbar province, Ibrahim al-Fahdawi, said Iraqi forces liberated three areas south of Ramadi on Friday, "killing more than 20 IS fighters."

Fahdawi said that controlling these areas was crucial to enable Iraqi forces to storm Ramadi and reach the banks of the Euphrates River, to the west of Ramadi.

He also praised the role of the international coalition air forces in supporting Iraqi troops and clearing several areas aound the city.

Samarra security measures

Iraqi security forces imposed strict security measures around the city of Samarra north of Baghdad on Friday after two people were killed and 15 wounded in an IS mortar attack on the city on Thursday evening.

A local source told al-Araby al-Jadeed's Arabic service reporter Baraa al-Shamari that reinforcements from the Iraqi military, police, and Popular Mobilisation militias arrived in areas surrounding Samarra in anticipation of new attacks by IS.

"Forces armed with heavy and medium weapons have been deployed south of the city to prevent IS expanding from the desert between the provinces of Salahuddin and Anbar," the source who preferred not to be named said.