Iraqi forces retook an area west of Ramadi on Saturday as they pressed their operation aimed at sealing off the jehadis who captured the city two weeks ago, commanders said.

“The Iraqi Army and the Hashed al-Shaabi liberated the Anbar traffic police building in the 5K area west of Ramadi after a fierce fight,” an Army officer said. Hashed al-Shaabi (“popular mobilisation” in Arabic) is an umbrella for mostly Shiite militia and volunteers that has played a key role in Iraq’s fight against the Islamic State (IS) group.

“The battle forced IS to withdraw from the building, which they had used as a base, and pull back into Ramadi city,” the officer told AFP.

Iraq forces have launched wide operations aimed at severing the supply lines of the jehadis who control most of Anbar, a vast Sunni province in western Iraq of which Ramadi is the capital. “The security forces are tightening their stranglehold on Ramadi, from the traffic police building to the west, from the university to the south and from the other sides too,” Anbar police chief Hadi Rzayej said.

Iraqi Government and allied forces retook the southern districts of Taesh, Humeyrah and the Anbar university compound earlier this week. The jehadis seized Ramadi on May 17, using an unprecedented wave of suicide vehicle-borne bomb attacks to force a retreat from the forces that had managed to hold some positions in the city for more than a year. Meanwhile, Iraqi airstrikes, according to reports from a special Intelligence cell named Suqour, pounded a meeting of IS leaders near the border with Syria, leaving 28 militants dead, the State-run Iraqiya channel quoted a report from the Intelligence cell.