Beirut---Islamic State extremists made key gains Friday, seizing a government compound in the strategic Iraqi city of Ramadi hours after allegedly massacring dozens of civilians as they closed in on Syria's ancient metropolis of Palmyra.
Women and children were among 23 people executed in cold blood outside Palmyra, monitoring groups said, as fears grew that advancing IS troops would destroy the ancient city renowned as a world heritage site.
Following the latest reported IS atrocity in Syria, jihadists raised their black flag over Ramadi's government headquarters after launching a wide offensive using suicide car bombs that sent civilians fleeing the western city, edging closer to what would be their biggest victory in Iraq this year.
IS "now occupies the government centre in Ramadi and has also raised its flag over the police HQ for Anbar", a police major told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The loss of the capital of Anbar province would be a major setback for Iraq's government, which has struggled to gain the upper hand against the IS group in the region and Baiji, north of Baghdad, despite months of US-led bombing raids.
Iraq's government said Ramadi had not fallen yet and a major counter-offensive was under way.
The jihadists already hold Mosul, Iraq's second city and the capital of the neighbouring Nineveh province, and US Vice President Joe Biden on Friday pledged to expedite supplies to Iraqi forces in a phone conversation with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
The IS gains in Iraq came as rights groups reported the group had massacred 23 people as it advanced on Palmyra, and it now held positions within one kilometre (less than a mile) of the UNESCO world heritage site.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP IS fighters had "executed by gunfire 23 civilians, including nine children, in the village of Amiriyeh, north of Tadmor," adding that relations of government officials were among those killed.
Palmyra, a 2,000-year-old desert oasis site known in Arabic as Tadmor, is one of Syria's most prized historical gems and experts fear IS plans to destroy the city after it sacked the Iraqi archaeological sites of Nimrud and Hatra.
"It is our responsibility to alert the (UN) Security Council so that it will take strong decisions," UNESCO chief Irina Bokova said, adding that the world body was "very worried".
AFP
