Iraqi government forces battling an al Qaeda offensive near the Syrian border launched an air strike on Ramadi city on Sunday killing 25 Islamist militants, according to local officials. Government officials in western Anbar province met tribal leaders to urge them to help repel al Qaeda-linked militants who have taken over parts of Ramadi and Falluja, strategic Iraqi cities on the Euphrates River. Al Qaeda’s Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has been steadily tightening its grip in the vast Anbar province in recent months in a bid to create a Sunni Muslim state straddling the frontier with Syria. But last week’s capture of positions in Ramadi and large parts of Falluja was the first time in years that Sunni insurgents had taken ground in the province’s major cities and held their positions for days. Local officials and tribal leaders in Ramadi said that […]