BAGHDAD — The Islamic State seized control of the key Iraqi city of Ramadi on Sunday, the biggest victory for the extremists this year despite stepped-up U.S.-led airstrikes targeting the region, according to officials in Anbar province."Ramadi has fallen," Muhannad Haimour, a spokesman for Anbar province, said as Iraqi forces withdrew from the city. "The city was completely taken. … It was a gradual deterioration. The military is fleeing."
Haimour told the Associated Press that the militants killed up to 500 civilians and soldiers and forced around 8,000 people to flee their homes as they captured the city.
The U.S. Central Command was not yet ready to concede the city to the Islamic State, saying that Ramadi remains "contested."
