Iraqi forces making serious progress on retaking city of Ramadi taken over by IS

Iraqi forces on Tuesday reported some progress in the military operation to retake from the Islamic State group the city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, saying they have made the most significant incursion into the city since it fell to the hands of the militants in May.

Losing Ramadi - the capital of the sprawling western Anbar province and Iraq's Sunni heartland - was a major blow to the Iraqi government in May this year. It was also the biggest defeat since IS militants swept through areas in the country's north and west, including Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul in the summer of 2014.

Iraqi forces announced a counteroffensive shortly afterward Mosul fell but progress has been sluggish and clawing territory back from the IS has proven more difficult than expected.

On Tuesday, Iraqi spokesman Sabah al-Numan said the troops crossed the Euphrates River north of the city and its Warar tributary to the west and pushed into downtown Ramadi.

Sporadic clashes were underway and Iraqi forces were being forced to remove roadside bombs the IS extremists had planted as they push forward, al-Numan added.

He said no paramilitary forces - a reference to pro-government Shiite militias whose actions have raised concerns in Sunni territory - were taking part in the operation. The Iraqi air force and the U.S.-led international coalition were providing air support to troops on ground and bombing IS targets, al-Numan added.

Since overrunning Ramadi, the Islamic State group has destroyed all the bridges around the city. It also demolished the Anbar operations command and fanned out into the city's residential areas to set up less conspicuous centers of command.

As the operation to retake the provincial capital progresses, Ramadi's sizeable civilian population - estimated to be between 4,000 and 10,000 - remains mostly trapped inside the city. Iraqi officials say they believe civilians will be able to flee the city, but coalition officials report that so far they have only witnessed small groups do so.

Ramadi, like the rest of Anbar province, is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, the minority community that complains of discrimination by the Shiite-led government in Baghdad. Some Sunnis in other parts of Anbar and in northern Iraq welcomed IS rule, at least initially.