Fallujah government building recaptured from ISIS, Iraqi military says

Iraqi forces recapturedthe municipal building in Fallujahfrom ISIS militants,the military said on Friday, nearly four weeks after the startof a U.S.-backed offensive to retake the city an hour's drivewest of Baghdad.

The ultra-hardline militants still control a significantportion of Fallujah, where the conflict has forced the evacuationof most residents and many streets and houses remain mined withexplosives.

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A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition backing Baghdad'squest to recover large swathes of western and northern Iraq fromISIS told Reuters that government forces were "close [to the building]but don't have control yet."

A military statement said the federal police had raised theIraqi state flag above the government building and werecontinuing to pursue insurgents.

A Reuters photographer in a southern district of Fallujahsaid clashes involving aerial bombardment, artillery and machinegun fire were continuing. Clouds of smoke could be seen risingup from areas closer to the city centre.

Heavily armed Interior Ministry police units were advancingalong Baghdad Street, the main east-west road running throughthe city, and commandos from the counter-terrorism service (CTS)had surrounded Fallujah hospital, the statement said.

Sabah al-Numani, a CTS spokesman, said on state televisionthat snipers holed up inside the hospital, considered a nest ofmilitants, were resisting but the facility was expected to beretaken within hours.

Major offensives

Government forces, with air support from the U.S.-ledcoalition, launched a major operation on May 23 to retakeFallujah, an historic bastion of the Sunni Muslim insurgencyagainst U.S. forces that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, aSunni, in 2003, and the Shia-led governments that followed.

The city is seen as a launchpad for recent Islamic State in Iraq and Syriabombings in the capital, making the offensive a crucialpart of the government's campaign to improve security.

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U.S. allies would prefer to concentrate on ISIS-held Mosul, Iraq's second largest city that is located inthe far north of the country.

Enemies of ISIS have uncorked major offensivesagainst the jihadists on other fronts, including a thrust byU.S.-backed forces against the city of Manbij in northern Syria.

The offensives amount to the most sustained pressure on ISISsince it proclaimed a caliphate in 2014.

Thousands escape

ISIShas begun allowing thousands of civilianstrapped in central Fallujah to escape and the sudden exodus hasoverwhelmed displacement camps already filled beyond capacity.

More than 6,000 families left on Thursday alone, accordingto Fallujah Mayor Issa al-Issawi, who fled the IS seizure ofFallujah two years ago. He told Reuters on Friday: "We don't knowhow to deal with this large number of civilians."

The number of displaced people as of Thursday surpassed68,000, according to the United Nations, which recentlyestimated Fallujah's total population at 90,000, only about athird of the total in 2010.

Witnesses said ISIS had announced via loudspeakersthat residents could leave if they wanted, but it was unclearwhy the group changed tacticsafter clamping down on civilianmovement only a few days ago.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which has beenproviding aid to displaced people, said escapees reported asudden retreat of IS fighters at key checkpoints inside Fallujahthat had allowed civilians to leave.

Humanitarian needs were expected to increase dramatically inthe coming hours, swamping the resources of foreign aid groupsand the government as they struggle with funding shortfalls.

"Aid services in the camps were already overstretched andthis development will push us all to the limit," said NRCcountry director Nasr Muflahi.

ISIS, which by U.S. estimates has been ousted fromalmost half of the territory it seized when Iraqi forcespartially collapsed in 2014, has used residents as human shieldsto slow the military's advance and help avoid air strikes.

Defence Ministry spokesman Naseer Nuri said the surge indisplaced people was "proof that [ISIS]has lostcontrol over the city and its residents."

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