IS militants launch Ramadi attack as al-Qaeda rejects 'caliphate'

The so called Islamic State  group IS launched a fierce attack on the western Iraqi city of Ramadi on Friday, in an attempt to seize one of the last urban areas still under the Iraqi government control in Anbar province, security officials said.

A police source told al-Araby al-Jadeed that the head of police in Habaniya, near Ramadi, was killed in the fighting.

“The militants are a couple of hundred metres away from the main gate of the Habaniya military compound, which has a military airport and bases for the army and pro-government tribes, as well as US military advisers,” the source said.

Supply lines between Ramadi and Fallujah are also said to have been cut, with IS controlling a seven kilometre stretch of road between the two cities.

“IS launched a surprise attack from four directions – north, west, east

IS launched a surprise attack from four directions – north, west, east and south of Ramadi. - Iraqi official

and south of Ramadi,” a police first lieutenant in the city, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, said.

“Clashes are ongoing around the city. A series of mortar attacks have targeted areas inside the city, including provincial council buildings and a police post,” the officer said.

Car bombs targeting Iraqi security forces were also detonated in the city by IS militants.

AQAP reject IS caliphate

The attack comes as one of the strongest al-Qaeda affiliates, Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), released a video on Friday rejecting IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's call for Islamist militant groups to pledge allegiance to him.

Harith al-Nadhiri, an AQAP leader, said in the video that the declaration of a caliphate by IS had not met the necessary conditions.

“They [IS] declared the expansion of their caliphate in countries that they have no presence in,” Nadhiri said.

While striking a conciliatory tone –

IS split the mujahideen with their declaration of a caliphate. - Harith al-Nadhiri, AQAP leader

Nadhiri reaffirmed that AQAP were maintaining a neutral stance towards the fighting between Islamist militant groups in Syria – he accused IS of causing rifts between Islamist militants.

“IS split the mujahideen with their declaration of a caliphate,” he said.

In a video released by IS earlier this week, the group declared areas including Yemen, Sinai and Algeria as provinces of the “caliphate”.

Fierce fighting has taken place in Syria over the past few months between IS and al-Qaeda's Syrian-affiliate, al-Nusra Front, although there are signs that some sort of truce is being negotiated as both groups face US-led coalition airstrikes.

IS claims Irbil attack

On Thursday IS claimed responsibility for a rare bomb attack that struck  capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region in Iraq, Irbil.

The attack claimed four lives and left two dozen peopel injured.

An online statement from the group said that they had “breached all the security checkpoints of the agent Kurdistan government and reached the heart of the city of Irbil”.

The bomb struck a main checkpoint on the way to the provincial government headquarters just before noon.

Kurdistan has generally been spared the violence that has affected other parts of Iraq, but IS  advances in the spring and the summer pushed back Kurdish forces towards Irbil. Airstrikes have helped Kurdish and federal government forces retake territory in recent weeks.

Assad urges global cooperation 

The US-led airstrikes have not targeted Syrian government forces, which has left US president Barack Obama's administration facing criticism from countries like Turkey, as well as the Syrian opposition, who argue that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's regime is using the airstrikes to bolster his position.

Assad himself said on Thursday that “real and sincere international cooperation” was needed to defeat IS.

“Terrorist groups, led by IS, did not emerge from nothing but are the fruit of the mistaken and aggressive policies of those who have waged war on Syria,” Assad was quoted by state news agency SANA as saying.

Despite the threat posed by IS, Obama has rejected calls to ally with Assad, and on Sunday maintained that Assad had “lost legitimacy with the majority of his people” as a result of the government's crackdown against protesters since 2011, and its indiscriminate use of force against civilians in opposition-held territory.

“For us to then make common cause with him against ISIL would only turn more Sunnis in Syria in the direction of supporting ISIL and would weaken our coalition,” Obama said, using another name for the IS group.