Iraq PM tours battlefield city as 22 security personnel killed

BAGHDAD, Feb 15 (AFP): Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki paid a visit on Saturday to the battleground city of Ramadi, where security forces and allied tribesmen have for weeks fought to retake militant-held areas.

His inspection tour came as militants killed 22 soldiers and police over two days and kept their grip on part of the northern town of Sulaiman Bek in a new front in the persistent rebellion against his Shiite-led government in Sunni Arab areas.

The visit is Maliki's first announced trip to Anbar province since jihadist militants and anti-government tribesmen seized control of parts of Ramadi and all of Fallujah to its east at the start of the year, in a major setback for his government.

Maliki's spokesman Ali Mussawi said the premier met with provincial officials and leaders of powerful local tribes.

"We came to confirm our support to our people and our tribes in Anbar," Mussawi quoted Maliki as saying in a speech.

Another official in Maliki's office said the premier would be briefed on the progress of military operations.

The takeovers in Anbar are the first time that anti-government forces have exercised such open control in major cities since the bloody insurgency that followed the US-led invasion of 2003.

The prospects of a quick resolution to the crisis seem slim, with Deputy Prime Minister Hussein al-Shahristani saying the strategy for retaking Fallujah is to surround it and wait for Sunni Arab gunmen to run short of weapons and equipment.