Summary The terrain allows a small number of determined men to hold off a larger force
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraqi forces dodged sniper fire, car bombs, roadside bombs and booby traps as they battled Friday to root out jihadist fighters hunkered down in a strategic compound in central Ramadi.
Elite forces from the counter-terrorism service (CTS) faced limited resistance when they punched into central Ramadi four days earlier, in a final push to retake the city they lost to the Islamic State (IS) group in May.
Jihadist fighters concentrated their defence around the main government complex in the Hoz neighbourhood and now Iraqi forces are struggling to break in.
"We are facing many obstacles, mostly snipers and car bombs," said one CTS fighter, 1st Lieutenant Bashar Hussein, from a position in Dhubbat neighbourhood, just south of Hoz.
The terrain allows a small number of determined men to hold off a larger force.
Iraqi soldiers were around 500 metres (yards) away from the compound on Thursday and had only inched a little closer by Friday.
"Daesh (IS) resistance got stiffer as Iraqi forces moved closer to the government compound," said an army brigadier general, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Our forces are now just over 300 metres away from those buildings," he said.
The number of IS fighters still holding out in the city was estimated at fewer than 400, with reports of some retreating from the front by using civilians as human shields.
"Operations to liberate Ramadi need time. It isn t easy to retake it quickly," said Ibrahim al-Fahdawi, the head of the security committee for nearby Khaldiya district.
"Booby-trapped houses, suicide attacks, improvised explosive devices, snipers, mortars, rockets: Daesh (IS) is using everything it s got to stop the progress of the security forces," said Fahdawi.
