IRAQI troops and allied militias repelled an Islamic State (Isis) assault on Khaldiya, west of Baghdad, a tribal leader said yesterday.

Sheikh Rafie al-Fahdawi said that Isis militants had tried to capture the town just before midnight on Monday.

The militants first captured a small village outside Khaldiya, he said, adding that no government troops or tribal fighters had been killed in the clashes.

Khaldiya lies between the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, the capital of al-Anbar province, which Isis captured over the weekend.

Iraq’s Defence Ministry said in a statement yesterday that it had rescued a number of troops who were surrounded inside Ramadi.

It released a video of two helicopters landing in an open area as several soldiers rushed to meet them.

Following the fall of Ramadi, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered southern militias to prepare to go into the province following a request from the local government and some tribes.