(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Shia paramilitaries were preparing to deploy to Iraq's western province of Anbar on Monday after Islamic State militants overran the provincial capital Ramadi in the biggest defeat for the Baghdad government since last summer.
A spokesman for the paramilitaries, which are known as Hashid Shaabi, told Reuters they had received orders to mobilise, but details could not be revealed for security reasons.
"Now that the Hashid has received the order to march forward, they will definitely take part," said Ali al-Sarai, a member of the Hashid Shaabi's media wing. "They were waiting for this order and now they have it."
Ramadi is dominated by Sunni Muslims. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi signed off on the deployment of Shia militias to attempt to seize back the area, a move he had previously resisted for fear of provoking a sectarian backlash.
About 500 people have been killed in the fighting for Ramadi in recent days and between 6,000 and 8,000 have fled, a spokesman for the provincial governor said.
The city's fall marked a major setback for the forces ranged against Islamic State: a US-led coalition and the Iraqi security forces, which have been propped up by Iranian-backed Shia militias
It was also a harsh return to reality for Washington, which at the weekend had mounted a successful special forces raid in Syria in which it said it killed an Islamic State leader in charge of the group's black market oil and gas sales, and captured his wife.
While the Iraqi government and Shia paramilitaries recaptured the city of Tikrit from Islamic State last month, the major northern city of Mosul remains under the control of the Islamists.
Islamic State said that in Ramadi it had seized tanks and killed "dozens of apostates", its description for members of the Iraqi security forces.
Earlier, security sources said government forces evacuated a military base after it came under attack by the insurgents, who had already taken one of the last districts still holding out.
It was the biggest victory for Islamic State in Iraq since security forces and Shia paramilitary groups began pushing the militants back last year, aided by air strikes from a US-led coalition.
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