Tribal fighters take part in a military training to prepare for fighting against ISIS militants, on the outskirts of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, Nov. 16, 2014.

Suspected Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) gunmen fired at an Iraqi government building in Ramadi on Friday, Reuters reported local officials as saying.

Mosques also broadcast appeals for reinforcements to confront the apparent attempt to take full control of the western city.

Most of Ramadi, about 90 km (55 miles) west of Baghdad, is already controlled by ISIS, which holds large swathes of northern and western Iraq.

Hathal al-Fahdawi, a member of the Anbar Provincial Council, told Reuters that Friday’s attacks started around 3 am (midnight GMT). ISIS fighters took over the village of Al-Shujairiya, about 20 km east of Ramadi, where fighting was still going on.

Security forces killed 12 militants who tried to storm a mosque and a house close to Shujairiya, said Rafie Fahdawi, a tribal leader. Police, army and tribal fighters were being sent as reinforcement.

In a related story, some of the 1,500 new U.S. troops authorized to advise and train Iraqi forces in their fight against ISIS militants will deploy to the country in the next few weeks without waiting for Congress to fund the mission, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

 
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