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(Bloomberg) -- Islamic State fighters have completed their takeover of the town of Al-Baghdadi in western Iraq, increasing the threat to a nearby airbase where U.S. advisers are stationed, a local official said.
The Iraq army unit protecting a residential compound in Al-Baghdadi, the military’s last position in the town, pulled out late on Thursday, Faleh al-Issawi, deputy chief of Anbar provincial council, said by phone. A group of Islamic State fighters entered, and efforts to dislodge them, including airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition, have failed, he said.
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The Islamic State advance may leave the Ayn al-Assad airbase, where U.S. advisers are training local forces, more exposed to attack, al-Issawi said. A group of Islamic State militants, including several suicide bombers, were halted earlier this month when they tried to enter the base.
Al-Baghdadi is on the Euphrates river about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s largest province Anbar and a target for Islamic State as it seeks to tighten its grip on Sunni-majority areas of Iraq. Tribal leaders from the region were in Washington last month for talks on arming their fighters to combat the jihadists.
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To contact the reporter on this story: Zaid Sabah in Washington at zalhamid@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net Ben Holland, Mark Williams
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