ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—The Iraqi army, supported by Shiite militia units and US-led coalition warplanes, is stalled at the edges of Fallujah after more than one week of fighting and blames ISIS’ use of human shields for the slow progress. “It would’ve been possible to end the battle quickly if protecting civilians wasn’t one of the foundations of our plan,” Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi said on state television. In a visit to the frontline, Abadi praised the army’s progress and vowed that government troops will “hoist the Iraqi flag inside Fallujah in the coming few days.” The United Nations reported that ISIS has moved families to the centre of the city to serve as a buffer between the militants and the Iraqi forces. “ISIL have moved many families to the centre of town where they’re a kind of human shield,” Lise Grande, deputy special representative of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, told Al Jazeera, using an alternative acronym for ISIS. “There is widespread food deprivation. Medicines haven’t made it into Fallujah for months. We know that people no longer have access to clean drinking water and they’re forced to drink out of the irrigation canals. We’re worried that there might even be a cholera outbreak because of this.” Some 50,000 civilians are believed to still be in the city, which had a pre-war population of 300,000. The UN’s children’s agency UNICEF on Wednesday warned of the dire situation for an estimated 20,000 children trapped in the city. ISIS is battling hard to hold onto the city and has planted many IEDs to slow the Iraqi forces’ advance. At least 130 Iraqi soldiers have been killed in the campaign, according to unofficial reports. Ten ISIS suicide bombers hit Iraqi army stations in the town of Kubaisah and the village of Al Sejar, early on Wednesday. And an Iraqi army convoy south of Fallujah was hit by roadside bombs, according to Al Jazeera who spoke with military sources. Security forces at Najaf’s Valley of Peace, where Shia bury their dead, told Associated Press that they have received “about 70 fighters, probably a bit more.” Baghdad hospitals have received nearly 100 wounded from the Fallujah, AFP reported. The army has not released any official casualty figures.
