BAGHDAD — Fierce clashes erupted northeast of Fallujah on Saturday between the Iraqi army and Islamic State militants following an ambush the day before that killed a general and staff officers. Militants launched a complex attack Friday involving a bulldozer packed with explosives against a convoy as it approached an army camp, killing 1st Division commander Brig. Gen. Hassan Abbas Toufan and three staff officers in the Nadhem al-Taqseem region south of Lake Tharthar. Ten soldiers also were killed and a dozen wounded in the attack which was against the nearby battalion headquarters as well, said Lieutenant general Mohammed Khalaf al-Dulaimi of the Anbar operations command. Residents of Fallujah said that Islamic State militants paraded an officer and three soldiers allegedly captured in the fighting through the streets in a pickup truck on Saturday. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. Troops, including tanks, have been rushed to the area and were fighting Saturday in this rural region dotted with small villages. Last year, the Islamic State overran large sections of the north and west of the country. In recent months, the Iraqi army, backed by the Popular Mobilizations Units of Shiite and Sunni militia fighters, has been gradually retaking territory. After prying the city of Tikrit in the northern Salahuddin province away from the Islamic State group, Iraqi forces have turned their attention to Anbar province, particularly the regional capital of Ramadi that has been besieged by the militants. Security forces had been reporting incremental progress this past week, including seizing a key bridge the militants had been using to supply their forces. Some of the 100,000 residents that had fled Ramadi have started to return. Fallujah has been firmly under control of the militants since it was overrun in January 2014 and there has been little progress in efforts to retake it.
