ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi army officials say they seek to begin returning displaced residents of Anbar to their homes beginning on April 10 after their areas were completely cleared of Islamic State (ISIS) members. Also the Shiite militia known as Hashd al-Shaabi withdrew, local police and tribal militias have come to administrate these areas and clear them of mines and other explosives. "Ramadi is now under the control of six Anbar police battalions, their main task is to prevent terrorists in infiltrating the city and to clear it of landmines left by ISIS before their retreat," Brig. Raouf Ibrahim, the manager of the Anbar police battalion affairs, told Rudaw Another army official also told Rudaw that their duty is to help defuse roadside bombs in the before embattled areas of the Anbar province. "Our role is to open roads for bomb disposal teams to clear the area and help the displace return home," said Brig. Amir Sulaiman, deputy manager of the Anbar police battalion affairs. Police forces, Shiite militiamen of the Hashd al-Shaabi and tribesmen have cleared the main roads, homes all the way to the center of the province are riddled with booby traps and landmines. "The streets have been cleared of bombs and many booby trapped homes have also been cleared," said Captain Hussein Mohammed, another Iraqi army official. After two years of expatriation and the security crisis created by ISIS in the region people of Anbar are eager to return to Ramadi, large parts of which have been destroyed by fighting.
