RAMADI: Militants took hundreds of students and staff hostage at a university in the Iraqi city of Ramadi on Saturday, sparking an assault led by special forces in which they were freed, officials said.
And in northern Iraq, heavy fighting between security forces and militants entered a second day, killing 59 people, while a wave of bombings in Baghdad left at least 25 more dead.
In Iraq's worst violence in years, militants have launched major operations in multiple provinces in recent days that have killed over 200 people and highlighted their long reach.
In Ramadi, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant gunmen infiltrated Anbar University from the nearby Al-Tasha area, killed its guards and then blew up a bridge leading to its main gate, police said.
An AFP journalist said special forces spearheaded an assault to retake the campus, sparking clashes involving heavy gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades.
Security forces "liberated all of the male and female student hostages from the dormitories in Anbar University" and regained control of checkpoints at its entrances, Deputy Interior Minister Adnan al-Assadi said in an emailed statement.
And interior ministry spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan told AFP that all of the hostages had been freed, without giving casualty figures.
The AFP journalist saw security forces bring in buses to take weeping hostages away from one of the women's dorms, but said fighting at the university continued afterwards.
Police officers put the number of hostages at the start of the incident at 2,500, though that figure could not be independently confirmed.
Before security forces moved in, a student told AFP by telephone from inside the university that she and other women were ordered to gather in one place, after which the militants' leader addressed them.
"We will teach you a lesson you will never forget," he said, according to the student's account. The student said the militant branded the university a "brothel" where women wore makeup, listened to music and mixed with men.
Fear of another attack, she said, will likely discourage students from returning to their studies.
While militants in Iraq have carried out similar attacks in which they occupied buildings and took hostages, the targets have usually been government facilities.
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