by Our Foreign Desk

Hundreds were feared dead yesterday after Islamic State (Isis) guerillas captured the central Iraqi city of Ramadi.

Iraqi army and police forces in the city — which lies a mere 70 miles west of Baghdad — were rapidly overwhelmed by the Isis attack on Sunday despite US-led air strikes on the militants.

Soldiers fled the city of some 500,000 people in disarray, some clinging to the sides of army lorries and Humvee jeeps.

Isis claimed to have captured abandoned army tanks and missile-launchers.

Anbar province spokesman Muhannad Haimour said that hundreds of people were feared dead and thousands driven out during the fighting.

“We do not have an accurate count yet,” he said. “We estimate that 500 people have been killed, both civilians and military, and approximately 8,000 have fled the city.”

His figures could not be independently confirmed, but bodies reportedly littered the streets.

Local leader Naeem al-Gauoud said that many local militiamen had died trying to defend the city, and bodies, some charred, were strewn in the streets, while others had been thrown in the Euphrates river.

The number of refugees comes on top of the 114,000 residents reported by the UN to have fled the city and surrounding villages during fighting over the province in April.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered Iranian-backed militias into Anbar, mobilised in response to a call from Shi’ite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to resist Isis.

Anbar provincial council head Sabah Karhout said they were “now on standby” at Habbaniya, about 12 miles east of Ramadi.

Youssef al-Kilabi, a spokesman for the militias, said they would “eliminate this barbaric enemy.”

He said the militias had drawn up plans for a counteroffensive in co-operation with government forces.

“God willing, we will achieve this triumph and we will not accept anything less than that.”

The US government says it is concerned that the militias would antagonise local people.

But Mr Gauoud said: “We welcome any group, including Shi’ite militias, to come and help us in liberating the city from the militants.”