Iraqi army shelling of Fallujah kills 10 civilians

FALLUJAH, Iraq – Ten civilians were killed in Iraqi army shelling of Islamic State (ISIS) bases in the city of Fallujah, a Rudaw reporter there said.

He said the Iraqi army shelled the areas of Jollan and Zubat in Fallujah with artillery and mortars, and that the bombing continued all night.

Fallujah has been under ISIS control since last summer, and besieged by the Iraqi army, which has been frequently shelling the city to weaken the militants.

Residents have complained of indiscriminate bombing by the army, and thousands have fled Fallujah for the northern Kurdistan Region.

According to Colonel Faruq Al-Joukhaifi, director of police in the Hadithah district of Fallujah, “fighter jets shelled ISIS bases in the village of Alsous in southern Hadithah, killing ISIS military commander Abu-Anas al-Samarai and several of his guards.

Sources say that Samarai had served as an officer in the Iraq army and was arrested in 2006 by US forces in Iraq. He was released in 2011, when American troops withdrew from Iraq.

Samarai joined ISIS after the group’s emergence in Iraq and was chosen as the governor (wali) of Anbar. He has been accused of the mass murder of the Abu-Alnamr tribe