Iraqi army shells Falluja to try to dislodge Qaeda, tribes
January 4, 2014
(Reuters) – The Iraqi army shelled the western city of Falluja with mortar bombs overnight to try to wrest back control from Sunni Muslim militants and tribesmen, killing at least eight people, tribal leaders and officials said on Saturday.
Al Qaeda’s Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has been tightening its grip in the Sunni-dominated desert province, near the Syrian border, in recent months in a bid to create an Islamic state across the Iraqi-Syrian borders.