Iraqi students taken hostage
June 7, 2014
Police and army officials said on Saturday that jihadist fighters had stormed Anbar University in Ramadi, 110 kilometers (668 miles) west of the capital, Baghdad, and detained dozens of students in the dormitory there.
The militants from the grouping Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant entered the university from the nearby Al-Tasha area, killing guards and blowing up the bridge leading to its main gate, according to police.
Parts of Ramadi, the capital of restive Anbar province, have been in the hands of Islamic extremists and other anti-government militants for months.
Ongoing violence
Saturday morning's attack comes on the heels of two other major operations by militants in recent days.
On Friday, heavy fighting between militants and security forces and suicide bombings killed at least 36 people in the northern province of Nineveh, while on Thursday, militants took several parts of the city of Samarra, 125 kilometers north of Baghdad, in a large-scale assault that was later repelled by government troops.
Iraq is seeing its worst run of violence since 2006-2007, when tens of thousands were killed in sectarian conflict between Iraq's Shiite majority and Sunni Arab minority.
Observers say Sunni Arab anger at the Shiite-led government is a major factor in the current unrest.
tj/pfd (AFP, AP)