TARIQ CAMP, Iraq -- Iraq's special forces completed a troop buildup around Fallujah on Sunday ahead of an operation to retake the city, a military officer said.
Teaming up with paramilitary troops and backed by aerial support from the U.S.-led coalition, the government a week ago launched an offensive to dislodge the Islamic State militant group from Fallujah.
The city, about 40 miles west of Baghdad, is one of the largest remaining Islamic State strongholds in Iraq. The militant group still controls territory in the country's north and west, including Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city.
The last battalion from Iraq's special forces arrived at dawn Sunday at the Tariq Camp outside Fallujah, said Maj. Dhia Thamir. He declined to comment on troop numbers or the timing of the expected assault.
He said troops had recaptured 80 percent of the territory around the city since the operation began and that they were battling the Islamic State to the northeast as they seek to tighten the siege ahead of a push toward the city's center.
In a televised speech to parliament, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the "current second phase of the Fallujah operation" will last less than 48 hours, after which the offensive to recapture the city will begin.
Al-Abadi called on residents of Fallujah to either leave the city or stay indoors. Government officials and aid groups estimate that more than 50,000 people remain in the center of the Sunni-majority city.
As soldier Ali al-Shimmari cleared his weapon and checked his Humvee at the camp, he said he was "totally ready" for the battle. "I phoned my family in the morning and asked them to pray for me to get back safe to them," he added.
"I'm determined to end Daesh," al-Shimmari said, using the Arabic acronym for the group.
The militants, meanwhile, launched an attack Sunday on Hit, a town 85 miles west of Baghdad that was recaptured by government troops last month. A military officer said the extremists entered three neighborhoods and were engaged in clashes with Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led airstrikes.
By late afternoon, the forces had managed to push the militants out and were in control of the whole town. The officer was not authorized to release information and so spoke on condition of anonymity.
Fallujah, which experienced some of the heaviest fighting of the 2003-11 U.S.-led military intervention, was the first city in Iraq to fall to the Islamic State. The extremists seized control of Fallujah in January 2014, six months before they swept across northern and western Iraq and declared a caliphate.
Information for this article was contributed by Sinan Salaheddin of The Associated Press.
A Section on 05/30/2016