At least 55 soldiers and pro-government tribal fighters have been killed in two attacks attributed to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group in Iraq’s western region, near the city of Ramadi. The first attack took place in the early hours of Tuesday when several suicide car bombers attacked the headquarters of the tenth Iraqi army division in northern Ramadi, killing 30 soldiers and pro-government fighters.
Separately, at noon on Tuesday, a dozen ISIL suicide car bombers tried to breach the Iraqi army barracks on the border of al-Baghdadi city, west of Ramadi, killing 25 Iraqi soldiers and tribal fighters in the process. The ISIL fighters were prevented from entering al-Baghdadi after heavy fighting with Iraqi soldiers and air strikes by the US-led coalition. The attacks come a day after Iraqi forces uncovered more than 40 bodies, including those of women and children, in a mass grave in Ramadi, Interior ministry spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan said.