Army officers said on Monday that the Iraqi forces were killed in the capital city of Anbar province after several explosives-laden vehicles were detonated at the entrance of a major military base and during the ensuing clashes.

“Our forces killed all the attackers and destroyed all the car bombs but there were a number of killed and wounded among army ranks,” Major General Ismail al-Mahalawi said, adding that fierce gunfire erupted after the explosions but the soldiers managed to bring the situation under their control.

Other sources confirmed the death of five soldiers, saying 11 others were wounded in the attack.

Mahalawi, as the head of the operations command for Anbar, is currently supervising Iraq’s battle on the ground against Daesh in Fallujah, another city in the province, which is located around 60 kilometers from the capital Baghdad. Fallujah has been under the control of militants for the past two years.

Iraqi forces have already liberated key cities like Ramadi and Hit (Heet) in the sprawling province.

Iraqis have also begun preparations for a highly-anticipated offensive against Daesh in Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern Nineveh province.

However, the Monday attack in Ramadi indicated that people and security forces are still vulnerable to ISIS threats in the areas that have been retaken from the terrorists.

Since Ramadi’s liberation in December, the Iraqi government has been facilitating the return of local population to the city while operations have begun to rebuild the city’s civilian infrastructure, Press TV reported.

219-12