(28 May 2016) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4037590
For a sixth consecutive day Iraqi forces battled to push Islamic State group (IS) militants out of the city of Fallujah.
Iraqi Federal police, along with Popular Mobilisation Forces (Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi), fired on IS militants in Saqlawiyah, 45 miles west of Baghdad, early on Saturday morning.
Federal Police Brigadier General Mahdi Nima, Commander of Federal Police Artillery, told the Associated Press if they push IS militants back from the district of Saqlawiyah, they will then besiege the nearby city of Fallujah from all points.
Residents still inside the city are preparing for a long battle, with some saying they fear being trapped between two forces they don't fully trust.
More than 50,000 people remain in the centre of the Sunni majority city, which has been under control of the extremist group for more than two years.
Located 40 miles west of Baghdad, the city of Fallujah has a history of anti-government sentiment in post 2003 Iraq.
After the US-led invasion in 2003 toppled Saddam Hussein, the city's 250,000 residents initially supported a Sunni insurgency that rose up against US forces and the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad.
Militants from al-Qaida in Iraq fought two bloody battles with US troops in Fallujah in 2004 that killed more than 100 Americans and wounded more than 1,000.
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