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.
Public execution
Meanwhile, gunmen from ISIS publicly executed two young men for allegedly cooperating with Iraqi security forces, officials and witnesses said, according to Agence France Presse.The killings were carried out in the middle of the crowded main market in the Zab area of Kirkuk province.
ISIS spearheaded a sweeping militant offensive in June that overran large parts of the country, including territory in Kirkuk.
Iraqi security forces and pro-government fighters are battling to regain ground with backing from a US-led air campaign and have retaken some areas, but three key cities are still in the hands of the militants.
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