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Iraqi forces could be seen retreating from Ramadi
The Iraqi government is reported to be sending Iran-backed militias to Ramadi to recapture the city seized by Islamic State (IS) militants on Sunday.
About 500 people are reported to have died when the Iraqi military abandoned positions in the city – only 70 miles (112km) west of Baghdad.
A regional government official spoke of people fleeing Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, “in great numbers”.
But the US has described the situation in Ramadi as “fluid and contested”.
“It is too early to make definitive statements about the situation on the ground there at this time,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Maureen Schumann, quoted by AFP news agency.
The Iran-backed Shia militias, known as the Popular Mobilisation, were key to the recapture from IS of another city, Tikrit, north of Baghdad, two months ago.
The militias pulled out of Tikrit following reports of widespread violence and looting.
The Iraqi government feared the sectarian repercussions of sending Shia forces into Ramadi, a heavily Sunni area, the BBC’s Jim Muir reports from Beirut.
The police and military made a chaotic retreat from Ramadi after days of intense fighting.
A statement purportedly from IS said its fighters had “purged the entire city”. It said IS had taken the 8th Brigade army base, along with tanks and missile launchers left behind by troops.
A very well-placed source in the Anbar governor’s office told the BBC Ramadi was now under the full control of IS, and all government troops had withdrawn.
BBC