The Islamic State group launched attacks on Iraqi bases in two western towns that left at least 17 members of the security forces and 40 jihadists dead, security and medical sources said Thursday. Seven policemen and four soldiers were killed in an attack on police headquarters in the Anbar provincial town of Heet, while at least six members of federal forces were killed in an assault on a major army base in Ramadi.
In Heet, on the Euphrates River about 150 kilometres (95 miles) west of Baghdad, 25 gunmen attacked the police headquarters shortly after midnight. "They smashed the gates open with suicide car bombs, then 25 men tried to break into the HQ, sparking heavy clashes," Colonel Jabbar al-Nimrawi told AFP.
"The police killed 20 of them and the remaining five withdrew to the electricity building. They are still under siege; they have sniper rifles. Nimrawi said the building was surrounded by police, army, elite counter-terrorism troops and anti-jihadist Sunni tribal forces. Heet hospital's Doctor Nael Ahmed said seven police officers and four soldiers had been killed.
Just outside Ramadi, less than 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Baghdad and further down the Euphrates, a similar suicide unit attacked the 8th Brigade headquarters Wednesday. "They attacked from three directions. They used suicide armoured vehicles to break into the compound, then 13 fighters with suicide vests entered," said senior army officer Awad al-Dulaimi.
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