ISIS fighters now 'at the gates of Baghdad': Islamic militants fighting 'just one mile from Iraqi capital' despite days Western airstrikes.
- Fierce clashes between jihadists and government forces near Iraqi capital
- Militants understood to be attempting to enter and seize control of Baghdad
- Reports of militants' proximity to Baghdad came from Canon Andrew White
- He is vicar of the city's St George's Church - Iraq's only Anglican church
- News comes despite ongoing Western airstrikes against ISIS targets in Iraq
Fierce fighting has been reported on the outskirts of Baghdad where ISIS militants are attempting to seize control of the Iraqi capital - despite ongoing Western airstrikes against the terror group.
The fighting is taking place just one mile to the west of the city, with government forces desperately trying to hold off the militants, who allegedly killed up to 1,000 soldiers during clashes yesterday.
ISIS have held a number of towns and villages close to the Iraqi capital since earlier in the year, when government troops melted away following a lightning advance in the west of the country - enabling the terrorist group to seize further swaths of territory for their so-called caliphate.
Under attack: An Iraqi army soldier aims his weapon during clashes with ISIS militants in Jurf al-Sakhar - 43 miles south of Baghdad - at the weekend. ISIS militants reportedly killed 1,000 such soldiers yesterday
Defence: Fierce fighting has been reported on the outskirts of Baghdad where ISIS militants are attempting to seize control of the Iraqi capital. In this image taken at the weekend, peshmerga forces are seen holding a post in the strategic Jalawla area, considered a gateway to the city
Peshmerga fighters hold a position at a post in the strategic Jalawla area near Baghdad during a battle with Islamic State militants at the weekend. The location is considered a gateway to the Iraqi capital
Location: The militants are understood to have had their advance halted by airstrikes yesterday at Ameriyat Al-Falluja yesterday - a small city about 18 miles south of Fallujah and 40 miles west of Baghdad. But the clashes did not force the bulk of the fighters - with many of them now having made their way to the Baghdad suburbs.
Reports that ISIS militants are now just one mile from Baghdad came from the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East - an organisation supporting the work of Canon Andrew White, vicar of the city's St George's Church, the only Anglican church in Iraq.
In a message posted on Facebook, the group said: 'The Islamic State are now less than 2km away from entering Baghdad. They said it could never happen and now it almost has.
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My comments: Will Obama let Baghdad fall to ISIS? What happens to the 1,600 American troops and all the employees at the U.S. Embassy, the largest U.S. Embassy in the world. What happens to the thousands of Iraqi Christians in Baghdad?
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