BAGHDAD — The capital of Anbar province fell to Islamic State militants Sunday as hundreds of police personnel, soldiers and tribal fighters abandoned the city, prompting the Iraqi prime minister to order Iranian-aligned Shiite militias to join the fight.
The fall of Ramadi represents a huge victory for the Islamic State and deals a profound blow to Iraq’s U.S.-backed government, led by Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, and its campaign to drive the extremist group out of the war-torn country.
Just 24 hours before, officials in Baghdad announced that military reinforcements had been dispatched to defend the city, capital of Iraq’s largest province, against a brutal assault that began Thursday.
But by Sunday, even the roads to Baghdad, 80 miles to the east, appeared vulnerable to the militant advance.
“Ramadi has fallen,” Muhannad Haimour, a spokesman for the Anbar governor, told The Associated Press. “The city was completely taken. … The military is fleeing.”
The developments, including Abadi’s decision to deploy Shiite militias to the country’s Sunni heartland, could complicate the U.S.-led campaign targeting the extremist group. In recent days, American airstrikes have hit militant positions in Ramadi in an effort to keep the city in government hands.
U.S. officials have expressed concern over the divisive, sectarian-motivated Iranian-backed Shiite militias.
Carried by state television on Sunday, Abadi’s announcement, which contained few details, also included a plea for pro-government forces not to abandon their positions in Anbar.
The rapid disintegration of pro-government forces in Ramadi conjured memories of the Islamic State’s similar defeat of Iraq’s weak military during sweeping advances throughout northern areas of the country last summer.
Security forces retreated from the Malaab area of Ramadi at 1:30 p.m., abandoning about 60 military vehicles, including military-grade Humvees, to the militants, said Col. Nasser al-Alwani of the Ramadi police force.
“Today, everybody retreated from the Malaab area, including counterterrorism units, army and police,” he said by phone.
Along with soldiers and counterterrorism units, the force of about 400 police officers who fall under Alwani’s command retreated in their vehicles to the east, he said. Islamic State fighters besieged them on all roads, forcing them to abandon the vehicles and escape on foot. A military convoy from the al-Habbaniyah air base later retrieved the fleeing Iraqi forces, he added.
“The retreat was complete chaos. There was no organization,” Alwani said, describing attacks by “hundreds” of Islamic State militants.
Earlier in the day, militants posted a statement on social media by the Islamic State that described Sunday’s events as a major military success, saying that the group “had imposed its control over all of Ramadi.”
