RAMADI: Iraq battled a militant assault on the city of Ramadi on Friday while the Kurds claimed disputed oilfields, another blow to efforts to forge a united front against a militant-led onslaught.
The militant push to take the capital of Anbar province comes two days before a planned parliamentary session to revive flagging efforts to replace the caretaker government in power since April elections.
Militants have captured areas west of Ramadi since the fighting began Thursday afternoon, killing 11 police, bombing a police station and capturing another, an officer and a doctor said.
The officer, a police lieutenant colonel, said the insurgents were attempting to "storm Ramadi from the western side".
The fall of the city, where anti-government fighters have held shifting areas since early this year, would be a major advance for the militants who have overrun large areas of five provinces, including parts of Anbar, since June 9.
It could increase the threat to the capital by solidifying militant positions in Anbar and breaking the isolation of insurgent-held Fallujah, which lies only 60 kilometres (37 miles) west of Baghdad.
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