Iraqi army and police score rare victory in the battle for Baghdad

For days ISIS militants have been sweeping through the western province of Anbar toward Baghdad, sacking a number of towns and villages and seizing armaments from a military base the Iraqi army was forced to abandon.

But the joint local force stormed the militants camp in Jaberiya killing up to 60 militants while also killing a number of senior ISIS figures in a second fightback near Ramadi, the capital of Anbar region.

The rare success for local Iraqi forces has provided some relief to coalition forces — involved in Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq — that privately believed the Anbar province would be lost in a matter of days allowing ISIS forces an open back door into Baghdad. Reports the capital could be overrun by jihadists were scotched today.

Despite there having been yet another suicide bomb attack in eastern Baghdad yesterday, for the fourth day in a row the latest killing five civilians and three police at a police checkpoint, those in Baghdad maintain the capital has never been safer.

The Department of Foreign Affairs certainly has advised all Australians to get out of the city and the international airport while they could.

“This time a year ago about every seven days we were having a coordinated wave of attacks where 60, 70 or 80 people were killed, there would be eight or nine bombs that would go off all over Baghdad,” a government official in Baghdad told News Corp yesterday.

“Now there are maybe one or two incidents every couple of days so it’s certainly not nearly as dramatic as it was 12 months ago or even eight months ago but that is no cause for complacency that’s for sure. Robust security measures are in place.”

Baghdad remains a very much divided city with Sunni and Shia areas.

But most of the security forces are Shia so take it as in their interests to defend their city and the official said reports of Baghdad falling into imminent ISIS hands were completely overblown.

There are some 53,000 Iraqi military and police troops in the city.

“The level of violence in Baghdad has gone down in the past six months, the lowest its been in years and security has increased quite significantly in the past four to five months so the ability to undertake violence is reduced somewhat,” the official said.

“The closure of the (Baghdad) airport or something like this would be a major symbolic event and that would not happen. There is a lot (of forces) between us and them.”

Acting Chief of the Defence Force Ray Griggs agreed reports Baghdad was about to fall into ISIS hands was overblown.