A street with empty bullets following the fighting between militants and Iraqi forces in Ramadi on January 3. PHOTO: AFP
Sheikh Ahmed Abu Risha said 16 members of the al Qaeda and the Levant group were killed in Khaldiyah, east of Ramadi, while 46 more died in the city itself.
ISIL militants took control of areas of both Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, and Fallujah, another city farther east, during days of fighting that broke out after security forces demolished the country's main Sunni Arab anti-government protest camp.
Clashes erupted in the Ramadi area on Monday as security forces tore down the sprawling anti-government protest camp on a nearby highway.
The violence then spread to Fallujah, and a subsequent withdrawal of security forces from areas of both cities cleared the way for ISIL to move in.
The Sahwa are made up of fighters who joined forces with the United States from late 2006, battling al Qaeda-linked militants in Anbar and elsewhere and helping to bring about a sharp reduction in violence.
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