Baghdad: Hundreds of Iraqi soldiers were trapped or missing on Sunday after a chaotic retreat from an army base in western Iraq, military officials said, underscoring the ability of Isil militants to remain on the offensive despite expanded airstrikes by the United States.
At least 820 soldiers were stationed at Camp Saqlawiyah in Anbar province, north of the insurgent-controlled Iraqi city of Fallujah, when it came under attack from five suicide bombings on Sunday afternoon, said Lt. Col. Ehab Hashem, a deputy commander with the Iraqi army’s 8th division who was at the camp. Two bombers drove explosives-packed armoured vehicles and three others detonated vests, he said.
In a statement on Sunday night, Iraq’s Defense Ministry confirmed that it had lost contact with some of its “heroic soldiers” during operations in Anbar but did not give numbers. It vowed to continue to “clean every inch of land” of militants.
Five battalions had been stranded at the base without supplies for six days after Isil militants seized a bridge that was the last access route to the camp. Soldiers said they were forced to boil water from a muddy stream and had been running low on ammunition when the bombings occurred.
“We lost control,” Hashem said after crossing territory controlled by Isil to reach another army base. “We couldn’t gather to retreat. Some are dead, others stayed.”
He said retreating soldiers had abandoned their vehicles and were traversing enemy territory in small platoons.
“Some are still crossing. They are walking through the trees and houses trying to hide from the insurgents.”
Isil has carried out mass executions of seized Iraqi troops in the past. Iraqi officials say the group massacred 1,700 soldiers at Camp Speicher near the northern city of Tikrit in June.
