Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called on residents of Fallujah on Monday to expel “terrorists” holding the city to spare it an assault by the Army, State television reported.
Maliki called on “the people of Fallujah and its tribes to expel the terrorists” so “their areas are not subjected to the danger of armed clashes.”
Maliki also said he had ordered security forces “not to strike residential areas,” the television added.
Fallujah, west of Baghdad, where US troops repeatedly battled insurgents, is outside Government control.
Militants have also held parts of Anbar provincial capital Ramadi for days.
It is the first time militants have exercised such open control in major cities since the height of the bloody insurgency that followed the US-led invasion of 2003.
Continuous fighting took place north, northeast and south Ramadi from early Monday morning a police major said, while a captain reported clashes east of Fallujah.