Islamic State suicide attacks in Iraq's Anbar kill 17 troops
BAGHDAD - As Iraqi forces gathered for a major new offensive to try to take back the sprawling Sunni heartland of Anbar province, Islamic State militants struck first, unleashing a wave of suicide bombings that killed at least 17 soldiers.
The attacks outside the extremist-held city of Fallujah came just hours after the Iraqi government announced the start of a wide-scale operation to recapture areas under Islamic State control in the vast desert province that stretches to the border with Jordan.
The militants used a sandstorm that engulfed most of Iraq to launch the deadly wave of bombings late Tuesday night, Brig. Gen Saad Maan Ibrahim, the spokesman for the Joint Military Command, told The Associated Press.
He said it was not clear how many suicide attackers were involved in the bombings but they struck from multiple directions at the Iraqi troops, who were gathered near a water control station and a lock system on a canal between the Euphrates River and Lake Tharthar as they prepared to deploy.
