BAGHDAD, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Iraq's army said it had regained full control of the western town of Rutba on Wednesday, three days after Islamic State attacked it.
Islamic State raided Rutba on Sunday in an apparent effort to divert Iraqi government troops from an ongoing assault on its stronghold in Mosul.
The militants at one point controlled half of the town on a key route to Syria and Jordan in Anbar province, a hotbed for the largely Sunni Muslim insurgency against Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim-led government.
"Troops of the Anbar Operations Command are in full control of al-Rutba district and in pursuit of remaining Daesh terrorists," said the army, using a derogatory term for Islamic State.
(Reporting by Saif Hameed; Editing by Andrew Heavens) ((Saif.Hameed@thomsonreuters.com;))
Islamic State raided Rutba on Sunday in an apparent effort to divert Iraqi government troops from an ongoing assault on its stronghold in Mosul.
The militants at one point controlled half of the town on a key route to Syria and Jordan in Anbar province, a hotbed for the largely Sunni Muslim insurgency against Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim-led government.
"Troops of the Anbar Operations Command are in full control of al-Rutba district and in pursuit of remaining Daesh terrorists," said the army, using a derogatory term for Islamic State.
(Reporting by Saif Hameed; Editing by Andrew Heavens) ((Saif.Hameed@thomsonreuters.com;))
