The Latest: Iraqi forces start pushing into IS-held Fallujah

BAGHDAD – The Latest on developments in Iraq (all times local):

12:50 p.m.

An Iraqi special forces commander says Iraqi forces have started pushing into Fallujah as part of the ongoing operation to oust Islamic State militants from this city west of Baghdad.

Brig. Haider al-Obeidi with the elite counterterrorism troops says the push started at dawn on Monday from the southern edge under the cover of coalition air support.

Al-Obeidi says the clashes as “fierce,” with IS extremists deploying snipers and releasing a volley of mortar rounds.

The operation to recapture Fallujah, which is located 65 kilometres or 40 miles west of Baghdad, was first announced last week.

Fallujah fist fell to IS more than two years ago and is one of the group’s last strongholds in western Iraq. The militants still control patches of territory in the country’s north and east, as well as the second largest city of Mosul.

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10:50 a.m.

A wave of bombings claimed by the Islamic State group has targeted commercial areas in Baghdad and near the Iraqi capital, killing at least 24 people.

The assaults come on Monday came as Iraqi forces were poised to push into Fallujah in an offensive to recapture the Islamic State-held city from the militants. The deadliest of the day’s attacks came in Baghdad’s northern, Shiite-dominated Shaab neighbourhood where a suicide car bomber rammed into a checkpoint, killing eight civilians and three soldiers.