Islamic State (IS) has stepped up its assault on the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, launching a series of suicide bomb attacks, official say.

Anbar provincial council member Athal al-Fahdawi said the government compound was within range of IS weapons and that it and the city were "in great danger".

Hundreds of people have fled the escalating violence in Ramadi and the surrounding area in the past week.

On Wednesday, IS captured three villages on the outskirts of the city.

Nine people are reported to have been summarily killed by militants in one of the villages, Albu Ghanim, after security forces withdrew. The Kurdish website Rudaw said four of the victims were police officers.
Deserted streets

Mr Fahdawi said several IS suicide bombers had targeted government buildings and checkpoints in Ramadi on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Although troops and armed tribesmen had so far been able to stop the militants reaching the compound that hosts the provincial government and security headquarters, Mr Fahdawi said it was now within range of their weapons.

"The city of Ramadi and its government compound are in great danger," he warned.

The interior ministry has sent "an urgent response unit", but Mr Fahdawi said the reinforcements were insufficient to repel the jihadists' assault.

US-led coalition aircraft are targeting IS positions in villages captured on Wednesday, security officials told AP news agency.

More than 2,000 families have fled from their homes because of the fighting, migration ministry official Sattar Nowruz told AP separately.
Counter-offensives

Earlier this month government forces dealt a major blow to IS by recapturing the city of Tikrit, which the group seized last June.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said last week that they would follow the victory in Tikrit with campaigns in Anbar province, much of which has been controlled by IS since early 2014, and the town of Baiji, near Iraq's most important oil refinery.

But IS responded by launching its own offensives on Ramadi and the Baiji refinery.

Anbar council member Sabah Karhout told Sharqiya TV late that a "lack of planning, financial and military means" had led to the government's recent losses around Ramadi.

The US military estimates that IS has lost 25% to 30% of its territory in Iraq to government forces since the US-led coalition air campaign began in August.

However, the group still controls swathes of northern and western Iraq, including the second city of Mosul, which Mr Abadi hopes to recapture later this year.

BBC