Troops from the Iraqi Federal Police recaptured the mayor’s office building in central Falluja and raised the national flag, according to the organization’s official Facebook page.
“Iraq’s federal forces continue to hunt the remnants of ISIS militants in the city center,” head of the Iraqi Federal Police, Raid Jawdat, was quoted Friday on the official page.
Iraqi forces, with the help of Shiite militias and U.S. air power, began advancing toward Falluja on May 23 in hopes of wresting control of the city from the clutches of ISIS. Falluja was the first Iraqi city to fall to ISIS fighters in 2014.
Iraqi counter-terrorism forces recaptured the large, central neighborhood of Nazzal and have now surrounded the city’s main hospital, according to a statement from the Iraqi Joint Operations Command on Friday.
Sabah al-Numan, the counter terrorism spokesman said live on Iraqi state TV that there were snipers inside the main hospital. “It’s just a couple of hours, then we will storm the building,” he said.
Earlier this week, CNN crews saw intense and steady artillery, tank, rocket and mortar bombardment of Falluja, trying drive ISIS out.