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WORLD NEWSWednesday 6 April 2016
Iraqi forces face heavy resistance in IS-held town
SUSANNAH GEORGE Iraq’s elite counter terrorism forces advance in Hit, 85 miles west of Baghdad, Iraq. Heavy resis- our casualties in the lowest
Associated Press tance has slowed Iraqi forces Tuesday as they pushed forward toward the center of Hit, com- level.”
HIT, Iraq (AP) — Heavy re- manders at the scene said. At a makeshift base on Hit’s
sistance has slowed Iraqi southern edge, Iraqi troops
forces Tuesday as they (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) at the front line could be
pushed forward toward heard saying over a hand-
the center of a town held fighting. A political crisis in their advance. of mortars and a string of held radio to commanders
by Islamic State militants in Baghdad as well as poor “If we had more special- suicide car bombings on that the “mortars are com-
western Anbar province, weather conditions further ized engineers we wouldn’t Tuesday morning as they ing down like rain.”
commanders at the scene slowed the push. be in this situation,” said the pushed into Hit from the While Iraq’s elite counter-
said. Iraqi commanders over- head of Iraq’s counterter- north. He didn’t give casu- terrorism forces are some
Hundreds of roadside seeing the operation said rorism forces, Gen. Abdel alty figures. of the country’s most ca-
bombs, car bombs and Tuesday that counterat- Ghani al-Asadi. “Our speed depends on pable ground forces, they
heavy mortar fire slowed tacks and a shortage of Gen. Husham al-Jabri said the resistance we’re fac- still depend heavily on U.S.-
advancing Iraqi troops to engineering teams to clear Iraqi counterterrorism forc- ing,” said al-Jabri, adding led coalition air strikes to
a near halt Tuesday after roadside bombs slowed es were hit with a barrage that they want to “keep clear territory.
entering the small town of The head of Iraq’s coun-
Hit the previous day. terterrorism forces, Gen.
Hit — which lies along the Abdel Ghani al-Asadi, said
Euphrates River in a valley he was not surprised by the
in Anbar’s sprawling desert tough resistance and slow
— is strategically important progress.
as it sits along an IS sup- “Every main road is rigged
ply line that links territory with explosives,” al-Asadi
controlled by the extremist said, explaining that the
Sunni group in Iraq and in three small teams of en-
Syria. gineers his troops have to
Through the line, IS ferries clear the area just aren’t
fighters and supplies from enough to deal with the
Syria into Iraq. density of the bombs.
Iraqi troops entered Hit
on Monday, under cover Over the past five days,
of heavy airstrikes and two armored bulldoz-
a week after launching ers used by Iraqi forces to
the operation to retake clear roads were put out of
the town. Their advance service by roadside bomb
has been stalled as tens blasts.
of thousands of civilians “The only thing that’s not
become trapped by the rigged with explosives is
the air,” al-Asadi said.
Austrian, German ministers urge more anti-terrorism measures
GEORGE JAHN and colleagues from Eu- “systematic border controls European targets. arrangement, which also
Associated Press rope’s three other German- ... where EU citizens first and “We have valuable data,” allows controlled entry to
VIENNA (AP) — The inte- speaking countries — Swit- foremost are the ones con- he said. the EU for those with good
rior ministers of Austria and zerland, Luxembourg and trolled.” “But the fact is that the in- chances of asylum, as
Germany said Tuesday that Liechtenstein — on what German Interior Minister formation in these separate good but cautioned it was
the EU must link efforts to they portrayed as the two Thomas de Maiziere also data sources can be strung too early to deliver a final
control migration and im- major threats to European focused on the need for together only in a very dif- verdict.
prove security by establish- security. all EU nations to work to- ficult process.” He called At the same time, he and
ing functioning outer bor- “A Europe without internal gether to reduce the threat for a system of “integrated Mikl-Leitner said they could
ders borders can exist only when of new terror attacks. For identification manage- envisage a similar agree-
and improving informa- a European outer border” that, he said, national con- ment over travel, migration ment with Libya and North
tion exchange channels functions to control those cerns about privacy of citi- and security in Europe.” African countries, even
among its 28 members over entering the EU, said Austri- zens must in some cases be The European Union be- while cautioning that the
terror threats. an Interior Minister Johanna rethought in favor of a fo- gan sending back mi- security situation in those
They spoke to reporters Mikl-Leitner. Citing figures cus on the free exchange grants Monday under an nations made reaching
during a break in consul- of 5,000 radicals in Europe, of information over possible agreement with Turkey. such deals more challeng-
tations among themselves she said the EU needed suspects planning to strike De Maiziere described the ing.
