Iraqi army asks residents of Ramadi to leave city

Iraqi military planes dropped leaflets on Sunday on Ramadi, asking residents to leave within 72 hours the western city which is under the control of Islamic State militants, an army spokesman said.

"It is an indication that a major military operation to retake the city center will start soon," one officer said on condition of anonymity. 

The leaflets indicated safe routes for civilians to exit the city and asked them to carry proper identification documents, joint operations spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool told Reuters by phone.

"All security forces were instructed on how to deal with civilian approaching them." 

Last week Iraqi security forces said they had made advances on two fronts in Ramadi, clearing Islamic State militants from a military command base and the sprawling neighborhood of al-Taamim on the western rim of the city that they captured in May.

Iraqi intelligence estimates the number of Islamic State fighters that are entrenched in the centre of Ramadi, capital of the Sunni Anbar province, at between 250 and 300. 

On Saturday, Iraq's defence minister predicted that security forces backed by US-led coalition airstrikes would retake full control of the city by the end of the year. 

"I met with the Joint Operations Command and they confirmed to me that we will regain all of the city of Ramadi by the end of this month," Khaled al-Obeidi told reporters in Baghdad. 

Islamic State group ok full control of Ramadi in mid-May, in what was Baghdad's most stinging defeat since it launched a counter-offensive to regain the large regions the extremists captured in the summer of 2014.