ISIS
militants have held a twisted victory parade after taking the key city
of Ramadi in an orgy of violence and beheadings - and the extremists
could march on the Iraqi capital Baghdad within the next month.
Mutilated
bodies scatter the streets of the 'Gateway of Baghdad', where Islamic
State slaughtered around 500 and forced over 8,000 to flee their homes
over the last few days.
Now
ISIS has released images of militants celebrating, children wielding
automatic weapons and a fleet of pick-up trucks carrying its jubilant
fighters through the blood-stained streets of Ramadi.
Shi'ite
fighters have already launched a counter-offensive to recapture the
city, but these kinds of tactics play straight into Islamic State's
grand plan to spark all-out war in the region, according to the Middle
East director of counter-terrorism think-tank RUSI.
Islamic
State militants are already marching east towards the Habbaniya army
base - around 20 miles east of Ramadi - where a column of 3,000 Shi'ite
paramilitaries are amassing, witnesses and a military officer has
said.
And if ISIS manage to reach Baghdad, it would be 'utter carnage', Professor Gareth Stansfield told MailOnline.
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Show of strength: ISIS flags line the
streets of Ramadi as a procession of militants - riding on the backs of
Toyota Land Cruisers - parade through the city
Surrounded: ISIS already has control
of Fallujah which is on Baghdad's doorstep and has now conquered the
strategically important city of Ramadi further west. It has Sunni
support to the south of the Iraqi capital and is waging battles with
security forces in the north to effectively 'surround' Baghdad
Parade: After slaughtering 500 people
and forcing over 8,000 from their homes, ISIS triumphantly drive through
Ramadi (pictured) in a fleet of pick-up trucks
Sick: One twisted image released
through Islamic State's social media channels shows a small child
carrying what appears to be a mortar shell in Ramadi - after their
victory in the city
Insurgency: The city where ISIS
militants fired rocket propelled grenades contains sacred Shi'ite
shrines which - if destroyed - would force the militia to take on ISIS
head on, experts have said
Innocence lost: ISIS has released
pictures showing its militants - and young followers (pictured) -
celebrating the capture of Ramadi as Shi'ite militias prepare a
counter-offensive to retake the city
He said: 'If ISIS turn up in great numbers in Baghdad, it will be an absolute slaughter between Sunni's and Shia's there.
'They
[ISIS] are now having so many successes, and moving so quickly, that
Baghdad is under very real threat from ISIS forces outside Baghdad and
also the ISIS terror cells inside Baghdad as well.
'We're
in for a very long summer of fighting in Iraq and ISIS could make their
move [on Baghdad] in the next month. Taking Ramadi will... make the
Shia militia in Baghdad even more radicalised and more dangerous.
'And this is what ISIS wants, it wants it to come out and have sectarian scrap which forces all the Sunni's to go towards ISIS.
Pincer attack: As reports flood in
that ISIS has taken over Ramadi, its militants have also been battling
security forces in Samarra (pictured), around 70 miles north of Baghdad
Celebration: Hundreds of ISIS fighters
carrying the notorious black flag of jihadi groups celebrate in the
blood-stained streets of Ramadi (pictured)
Moving on: The ISIS militants who are
celebrating battlefield success in Ramadi could soon march to Iraq's
capital Baghdad just 60 miles east, experts claim
Cut down in cold blood: Pictures
posted on Twitter show bodies of Iraqi soldiers lying strewn across a
street in Ramadi after ISIS militants carried out mass killings during
their capture of the strategic city
Murdered: A Sunni tribal leader said many tribal fighters died trying in vain to defend the city
'If
they had any opportunity to enter Baghdad, they would do. But it will
be more and more difficult for them to do it because Baghdad is a
military stronghold of the Shia militia.'
And
if they manage to actually take Baghdad, which is predominantly Shia
but has some Christian regions, Professor Stansfield says 'there would
be massacres to the scale we haven't seen since the Mongol empire in the
13th Century'.
United
States-led airstrikes have stepped up raids against the Islamists,
conducting 19 strikes near Ramadi over the past 72 hours at the request
of the Iraqi security forces, a coalition spokesman said.
And
as fighting rages in and around the city, Islamic State fighters are
also taking on Iraq's military and tribal groups in the north.
ISIS
are using rocket-propelled grenades to take on the Shi'ite militia
'Popular Mobilisation' in the city of Samarra, 70 miles north of the
capital, according to Institute for the Study of War.
Equally
brutal battles are taking place in Nebai just 50 miles to the
north-west of Iraq, where ISIS has reportedly used 'various weapons'
against Iraqi security forces and tribal fighters.
Twisted: The picture of a man who
supposedly carried out this suicide bombing in Ramadi featured in one of
the many propaganda videos released by ISIS, in the wake of their
victory in the city
Butchered: Around 500 people are
understood to have been killed over the past few days as the capital of
Iraq's Anbar province fell to the terror group
Death: Their bodies, some charred, were strewn across roads while others had been thrown in the Euphrates River
Shocking: Images found on Islamic
State's various social media channels show tiny children celebrating
alongside the militants in Ramadi, where the militants have already
begun to execute captives
Villains: If ISIS (pictured) take
Baghdad, 'there would be massacres to the scale we haven't seen since
the Mongol empire in the 13th Century.' an expert claimed
Edging closer: The loss of the capital
of Iraq's largest province (shown on map) marks one of Baghdad's worst
setbacks since it began a nationwide offensive last year to reclaim
territory lost to ISIS
Wrecked: A triumphant ISIS militants poses next to a destroyed tank - which bares the flag of Iraqi's military
Professor
Stansfield added: 'Baghdad is in some ways already surrounded but now
it's lost Ramadi, this now brings the spectre of ISIS extremely close to
Baghdad.'
'If
you piece together where ISIS has control, it has Baiji which is much
further north but still somewhere the Iraqi forces are having to fight.
'You've got ISIS very strong in Fallujah to the west of Baghdad and you've got ISIS pretty safe in Mosul.'
The
loss of Ramadi - the capital of Iraq's largest province Anbar - was the
military's worst setback since it started clawing back territory from
the Islamic State group late last year.
Baghdad
is in some ways already surrounded but now it's lost Ramadi, this now
brings the spectre of ISIS extremely close to Baghdad
Professor Gareth Stansfield, RUSI
Chilling
images showing the totality of their defeat there show ISIS militants
celebrating openly in the streets among dozens of charred bodies.
One
man appears to have been captured by the merciless militants, who
filmed the man's terrified expression before brutally beheading him on
camera.
Other
videos showed Humvees, trucks and other equipment speeding out of
Ramadi, with soldiers gripping onto their sides in a desperate and
chaotic retreat.
Regarding
how many people have died there in total, a spokesman for the Anbar
province's governor said: 'We do not have an accurate count yet.'
Muhannad
Haimour added: 'We estimate that 500 people have been killed, both
civilians and military, and approximately 8,000 have fled the city.'
The estimates are for the past three days, since Friday, when the battle for the city reached its final stages.
The
8,000 figure is in addition to the enormous exodus in April, Haimour
said, when the U.N. said as many as 114,000 residents fled from Ramadi
and surrounding villages at the height of the violence.
Carnage: ISIS have taken full control
of the Iraqi city of Ramadi after security forces fled the area
following a series of suicide car bombings. Pictured: A car is engulfed
in flames during clashes in the city
Horror: An Iraqi man captured by ISIS
during their siege on Ramadi looks terrified in one of their propaganda
videos - in which he is later seen decapitated
Spoils of war: Other pictures posted
online purportedly show Islamic State militants celebrating after
capturing military vehicles abandoned by fleeing Iraqi security forces
Jubilant jihadis: On a militant
website frequented by ISIS members, a message from the group claimed its
fighters held the 8th Brigade army base as well as tanks and missile
launchers left behind by fleeing soldiers
Conquered: ISIS jihadi's celebrate taking the town of Ramadi which lies just 60 miles west of Iraq's capital Baghdad
Local officials have said that ISIS carried out mass killings of Iraqi security forces and civilians.
With
defeat looming, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had ordered security
forces not to abandon their posts across Anbar province, apparently
fearing the extremists could capture the entire desert region that saw
intense fighting after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple dictator
Saddam Hussein.
Earlier
Sunday, al-Abadi ordered Shi'ite militias to prepare to go into the
Sunni-dominated province, ignoring U.S. concerns their presence could
spark sectarian bloodshed.
By
late Sunday, a large number of Shi'ite militiamen had arrived at a
military base near Ramadi, apparently to participate in a possible
counter-offensive, said the head of the Anbar provincial council, Sabah
Karhout.
U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry said he remained confident about the
fight against the Islamic State group, despite the setbacks like the
loss of Ramadi.
Kerry,
travelling through South Korea, said that he's long said the fight
against the militant group would be a long one and that it would be
tough in the Anbar province of western Iraq where Iraqi security forces
are not built up.
Sunday's
retreat recalled the collapse of Iraqi security forces last summer in
the face of the Islamic State's blitz into Iraq that saw it capture a
third of the country, where it has declared a caliphate, or Islamic
State.
It
also calls into question the Obama administration's hopes of relying
solely on airstrikes to support the Iraqi forces in expelling the
extremists.
'We welcome any group, including Shi'ite militias, to come and help us in liberating the city from the militants.
'What happened today is a big loss caused by lack of good planning by the military,' said Sunni tribal leader Naeem al-Gauoud.
Battle front: Islamic State militants inspect military vehicles abandoned by Iraqi troops as they fled the city
Bolstering arms: Sunday's retreat
recalled the collapse of Iraqi security forces last summer in the face
of the Islamic State's blitz into Iraq
Victory: Images obtained from Islamic
State's social media channels show the militants celebrating an apparent
victory in the city of Samarra (pictured)
Spoils of war: An Islamic State
propaganda video showed the huge cache of weapons the insurgents seized
from their conquered enemy in Samarra
He
said many tribal fighters died trying to defend the city, and bodies,
some charred, were strewn in the streets, while others had been thrown
in the Euphrates River.
The
final ISIS push to take Ramadi began early Sunday with four nearly
simultaneous bombings that targeted police officers defending the Malaab
district in southern Ramadi, a pocket of the city still under Iraqi
government control, killing at least 10 police and wounding 15,
officials said.
Among the dead was Colonel Muthana al-Jabri, the chief of the Malaab police station.
Later,
three suicide bombers drove their explosive-laden cars into the gate of
the Anbar Operation Command, the military headquarters for the
province, killing at least five soldiers and wounding 12, the officials
said.
The
extremists later seized Malaab after government forces withdrew, with
the militants saying they controlled the military headquarters.
A
police officer who was stationed at the headquarters said retreating
Iraqi forces left behind about 30 army vehicles and weapons that
included artillery and assault rifles.
Bombing run: The crushing defeat sent
Iraqi forces fleeing in a major loss of territory just 60 miles from
Baghdad despite the support of U.S.-led airstrikes (seen above)
targeting the extremists
Coalition forces blitzed key targets, but it did little to stop ISIS taking control of the provincial capital
He
said some two dozen police officers went missing during the fighting.
The officer and the other officials spoke on condition of anonymity as
they were not authorised to talk to reporters.
On
a militant website frequented by ISIS members, a message from the group
claimed its fighters held the 8th Brigade army base, as well as tanks
and missile launchers left behind by fleeing soldiers.
The statement said: 'God has enabled the soldiers of the caliphate to cleanse all of Ramadi... after storming the 8th brigade.'
The
message could not be independently verified, but it was similar to
others released by the group and was spread online by known supporters
of the extremists.
Last week, the militants swept through Ramadi, seizing the main government headquarters and other key parts of the city.
Online video showed Humvees, trucks
and other equipment speeding out of Ramadi, with soldiers gripping onto
their sides in a desperate and chaotic retreat
Muhannad Haimour, spokesman and
adviser to the governor in the province of Anbar, said 'Ramadi has
fallen' to ISIS. Pictured: Displaced Iraqis from Ramadi gather as they
flee their hometow
It
marked a major setback for the Iraqi government's efforts to drive IS
out of areas the group seized last year. Previous estimates suggested
the Islamic State group held at least 65 percent of the vast Anbar
province.
Backed
by U.S.-led airstrikes, Iraqi forces and Kurdish fighters have made
gains against the Islamic State group, including capturing the northern
city of Tikrit.
But
progress has been slow in Anbar, a Sunni province where anger at the
Shiite-led government runs deep and where U.S. forces struggled for
years to beat back a potent insurgency.
American soldiers fought some of their bloodiest battles since Vietnam on the streets of Ramadi and Fallujah.
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