Hostages seized as Iraq militants storm Ramadi university

[Neapolitan]

7 June 2014 Last updated at 07:45 ET

Militants in Iraq have stormed a university campus in the western city of Ramadi, taking dozens of students and staff hostage.

One student at the Anbar University campus said "everybody is in panic".

One report said some guards had died and that the militants were from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

The western province of Anbar is a focal point of Iraq's rising sectarian violence, with a number of areas controlled by Sunni militants.

The areas include parts of Ramadi, where the militants have been battling security forces of the Shia-led government for months.

Saturday's attack was the third major assault by insurgents in as many days, following raids on Mosul in the north and the central city of Samarra.

Sealed off

Police said militants had infiltrated the campus from the neighbouring al-Tasha district, blowing up a bridge that connects to the university's main gate.

Jihadist group active in Iraq and Syria

Formed in April 2013 and grew out of al-Qaeda's affiliate organisation in Iraq

Leader is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Estimated number of fighters is 3,000 to 5,000

Mostly active in northern and eastern Syria

Profile: Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant

Security personnel have sealed off the campus and one Agence France-Presse reporter said special forces had led an assault.

Another unconfirmed report spoke of the militants withdrawing.

The staff and students were reportedly held in a dormitory.

One student in the building, Ahmed al-Mehamdi, spoke to the Associated Press news agency by telephone.

He said he awoke to gunfire and saw armed men running across the campus. The gunmen entered the dormitory and told everybody to stay in their rooms.

He said: "The gunmen took some students to other university buildings. For the rest of us, we are still trapped in our rooms and everybody is in panic, especially the Shia students."

Map

Another student told AFP the insurgent leader had addressed them saying: "We will teach you a lesson you will never forget."

The violence in Anbar meant there was no voting there in the 30 April parliamentary elections.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's Shia-led alliance won the elections, but fell short of a majority.

Mr Maliki wants a third term, but other parties have voiced strong opposition.

They blame him for the sectarian violence, which has left more than 3,500 people dead this year, and accuse him of trying to monopolise power.

Students board vehicles at Anbar University, 7 June

Students board vehicles to get away from the attack

Security forces, Anbar University, 7 June

Security forces cordoned off the area

General view of Ramadi, May 2014

Parts of Ramadi have been under the control of militants for months

Iraqi forces in Ramadi, 24 May

Iraqi forces have been battling Sunni militants controlling many areas of Anbar

He blames external factors like the conflict in Syria for exacerbating the violence, and his opponents for the current political stalemate.

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant has carried out dozens of deadly attacks both in Iraq and Syria and imposes strict Islamic rule in the areas it controls.

On Friday, dozens of people died in fighting between Sunni insurgents and government troops in Mosul.

AFP quoted officials as saying the fighting had entered a second day on Saturday, with dozens more insurgents and security personnel killed in clashes.

On Thursday, scores of unidentified militants stormed checkpoints in Samarra.

The advance was eventually halted when helicopter gunships and military reinforcements, including members of Iraq's elite counter-terrorism forces, were sent in.

The army said some 80 insurgents died.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27746048

[yota691]

Urgent - Iraqi militants withdraw after raiding Anbar University

 

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07/06/2014

Withdrew the gunmen who stormed the University of Anbar earlier in the day and took students hostage withdrew from the site. 

attack occurred in the morning hours within the university, which is located near the western city of Ramadi. 

quoted by the Associated Press news agency officials in the police and army said the gunmen withdrew later after detention Dozens of students hostage.They said the students boarded buses to get out of their Vandla gunbattle between militants and security forces. 

explained the Associated Press that the officials who spoke on condition of them revealed their identities because they were not authorized to make statements to reporters.

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[yota691]

The escape of hundreds of students hostage in western Iraq from the grip of "Daash" Hundreds fled students hostage at the University of Anbar in western Iraq, from the control of the organization "Daash", which is fighting in Iraqi cities, Syria, hours after gunmen storm the organization of the University.

Tags: Iraq

© flickr.com. DVDIDSHUB18:34 | 2014/06/07

Iraqi forces regain Samarra horror of armed for "Daash" "Daash" controls the cities north of Baghdad, and threatens the Shiite shrines Iraq: 37 killed an element of organization "Daash" in clashes with security forces in Fallujah Coalition condemns Syrian penalty of 40 civilians at the hands of "Daash" "Daash" kill 15 Kurds, including 7 children northern Syria

BAGHDAD - Nazek Mohammed Khudair and road desertified, zap students runners raced through the area Tash that limit the University of Anbar, west of Ramadi, the provincial capital, about safe cities to escape the worsening situation in their university under the control of "Daash." said Hatem Samir, 20, a student stage First at the University of Anbar, for "Moscow News," The presence of students who reached their numbers hundreds, throughout the duration of the control of the militants on the university, was in the College of Education, all from internal departments and professors. enables Samir and all the students of both sexes who were with him under the horror, from escaping through the different ways area Tash behind the University, heading towards the area of the (5 kilometers), stressing that "the students out safely No one was hurt us," he was transferred a large number of students bussed private university.quoted buses, students of the University of Anbar Sections of internal numbered b (4.5) away from the gate of the university, which is witnessing an armed clash between security forces and elements of "Daash." and received the families of Iraqi Sunnis in the area of five kilometers, the students in their homes, especially those from other provinces, and the western cities far. Troops have surrounded Iraqi security, the University of Anbar, in the western part of the country, to resolve the gunmen seized control of the organization "Daash", building on the university who stormed at dawn on Saturday.

[umbertino]

Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham launch attacks across country, including a siege at a university in Ramadi

 

 

By Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent

5:37PM BST 07 Jun 2014

 

 

 

Militant Islamists from the Middle East's most feared al-Qaeda offshoot stormed a university in Iraq on Saturday as part of an operation across the country that left scores dead.

 

Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (Isis), which now controls swathes of territory on either side of the Syria-Iraq border, moved on the university in Ramadi, in the western province of Anbar, which they have been trying to take over since the end of last year.

 

Isis social media accounts insisted that the students and teaching staff were then evacuated safely. The militants withdrew after they came under attack from the Iraqi military, but continued to hold territory elsewhere in the province and in Mosul, the capital of Ninevah province to the north.

 

Fighting there claimed the lives of at least 95 people over Friday and Saturday, including at least 36 militants, according to official accounts.

 

Isis is the immediate descendant of Islamic State of Iraq, which while Osama bin Laden was alive was the official al-Qaeda branch in Iraq.

 

 

It fought first American forces and then the Shia community who make up the country's largest faction and dominate its post-war government.

 

It broke from bin Laden's successor, Ayman Zawahiri, after launching a takeover of the al-Qaeda branch in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra.

 

It now controls much of north-east Syria, and at the end of 2013, with support from some local Sunni tribesmen who said they were alienated by the Iraqi government, seized much of the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi in Anbar province.

 

Since then, fighting has escalated and spread.

 

The immediate purpose of the attack on Anbar University was not clear.

 

Students said they were rounded up in their dormitories and threatened, but not physically hurt. Three policemen were killed when the university checkpoint was overrun.

 

The violence has done little to impair the control that the Shia prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has been able to exert in the rest of the country, and his party was the winner of last month's general election.

 

However, nor has he been able to plot a convincing strategy to drive out the militants, resorting at one stage to barrel-bombing, like his ally President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.

 

As well as the fighting in Mosul, which was continuing into Saturday evening, the militants also attacked and seized parts of the city of Samarra north of Baghdad last week before being driven out again.

 

 

 

Students of Anbar university leave the university building in Ramadi city, west of Iraq Photo: EPA/STR

 

 

 

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10883694/Iraq-university-raided-in-day-of-bloodshed.html

 

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