Iraq: Militia says it will storm Falluja when families leave

Baghdad: An Iraqi majority sect militia said on Saturday it planned to storm Falluja, IS' stronghold near Baghdad, once civilians left the city, backtracking on earlier statements that it would leave this task to the Iraqi army.
"We will not enter Falluja as long as there are families inside," said Hadi Al Amiri, leader of the Badr Organization, the largest component of the paramilitary coalition known as Hashid Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation.
"Of course, we will go in and rid the city from the evil of this cancerous gland, with nobody preventing us," he said, when asked what would happen if civilians managed to flee the Sunni city that lies 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad.
Falluja is the first Iraqi city that ISe captured, in January 2014, and the second largest still under its control after Mosul in the north.
Amiri was speaking to reporters while touring one of the frontlines near Falluja.
Last week he said the militias would take part in encirclement operations but leave the army to storm the city.
Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi said on June 1 the offensive to dislodge the ultra-hardline militants had slowed down in order to protect civilians.
About 50,000 are trapped in the city, with limited access to water, food and healthcare, according to the United Nations.
Falluja is a historic bastion of the insurgency against the US occupation of Iraq and the authorities who took over after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003.