Iraqi troops face booby traps as they advance on Fallujah

FALLUJAH, Iraq — Iraqi forces radioed the U.S.-led coalition for air cover as they evacuated their casualties: One member of a police bomb disposal team had been killed, and two others has been wounded as they attempted to dismantle part of the complex network of booby traps on the edge of Islamic State-held Fallujah.

Another team pushed on, attempting to clear a recently secured neighborhood on the southern side of the city, the occasional explosion kicking orange dust into the air as part of the painstaking work. But a few hours later, they were hit by another explosion as they tried to diffuse a bomb, and two soldiers were seriously injured.

“It’s one of the worst jobs in the entire world,” said Col. Arkan Fadhil, of Iraq’s special forces after radioing for another team, this time a group of tribal fighters trained by the United States in bomb disposal techniques. On Friday morning alone, Iraqi engineering teams had encountered 25 improvised bombs in a stretch of just 500 feet, he said.

The Islamic State has had more than two years to barricade itself into Fallujah, the city west of Baghdad that was the first in the country to fall to the militant group. After launching an offensive for the city last month, Iraqi special forces are now within two miles of the city’s center, but extensive tunnel networks used by the militants and deadly roadside bombs are slowing their progress.

In a group of semi-constructed buildings on the city’s outskirts, Iraq’s elite counterterrorism forces have set up a makeshift base. Bullet and mortar holes pock mark the skeletons of unfinished concrete structures, where soldiers and police officers use unfinished rooms to lie down and rest, blankets laid out on the floor next to piles of sandbags.

It’s a high-stakes fight for Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, with the battle distracting from a political crisis that has brought regular demonstrations and seen protesters ransack parliament and his office, demanding reform. Iraqi commanders have also argued that clearing the city is a priority because of its proximity to Baghdad, just 45 miles to the east.

ALI ARKADY/THE WASHINGTON POST Soldiers take photos with Um Hussain, a volunteer who accompanies Iraqi security forces located near Fallujah this week.