The Islamic State group on Sunday pulled its fighters out of Rutba, a desert town in the western Iraqi province of Anbar, an army general and the mayor say.
The pullout, if confirmed, would be a rare case of the jihadists abandoning a position under no massive miliary pressure and suggests a manpower crisis in the organization.
“Daesh (IS) has completely pulled out of Rutba and gone towards Al-Qaim,” a major general tells AFP, referring to a jihadist bastion on the border with Syria, further north in Anbar.
“Daesh’s armed men started pulling out last night and completed their withdrawal this morning,” the senior officer says, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Rutba is now free of Daesh.”
The mayor of the isolated town, which lies about 390 kilometers (245 miles) west of Baghdad on the road to Jordan, confirms that IS had withdrawn.
— AFP
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