"Final assault" on Falluja begins

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Reuters

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Iraqi forces began an operation to recapture Falluja a week ago

The Iraqi army says it has begun an operation to storm Falluja, a bastion of so-called Islamic State (IS).

It comes a week after the government launched a concerted effort to retake the city, which has been held by the jihadists since 2014.

An estimated 50,000 civilians are trapped inside, with only a few hundred families able to escape.

The UN says there are reports of people starving to death there, and of being killed for refusing to fight for IS.

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State forces including members of an elite counter-terrorism unit are moving into the city on several fronts, an official statement said.

IS forces are reportedly fighting back with suicide attacks and car bombings.

But while the military said it was advancing towards its goals, so far the fighting seems to be centred on IS defences outside Falluja’s city limits, the BBC’s Jim Muir in Baghdad says.

Militia leaders taking part have said there is likely to be a pause before the assault on the city centre begins to allow civilians to escape.

Falluja fell to IS in January 2014, a key moment in its rise that saw it declare a caliphate across swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Along with Mosul, it is one of two major cities held by IS in Iraq.

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