Iraq government 'loses Fallujah'

January 05, 2014 00:43

The Iraqi government has lost control of the strategic city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, eyewitnesses say.

Al Qaeda-linked militants now control the south of the city, a security source told the BBC. An Iraqi reporter there says tribesmen allied with al-Qaeda hold the rest of Fallujah.

Fighting there erupted after troops broke up a protest camp by Sunni Arabs in the city of Ramadi on Monday.

They have been accusing the Shia-led government of marginalising the Sunnis.

The recent fighting in Fallujah and Ramadi has pitted government troops on the one hand and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis), which is affiliated with Al Qaeda, and Sunni tribesmen on the other.

Local Sunni Arabs have been angered by they perceive as discrimination by the government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.

They also say their minority community is being targeted by anti-terrorism measures implemented to stem the surge in sectarian violence.

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