BAGHDAD: A series of bombings in central Iraq killed 28 people on Monday, as a government official claimed that Al-Qaeda-linked fighters have dug in to a city they seized last month and possess enough heavy weapons to storm into the country’s capital.

The bombings, mainly in Baghdad targeting marketplaces and court buildings, came as the army presses an all-out offensive announced Sunday to retake the area, but has come up against heavy resistance.

Since late December, members of Iraq’s Al-Qaeda branch — known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant — have taken over parts of Ramadi. They also control the center of the nearby city of Fallujah, along with other non-Al-Qaeda groups that also oppose the Shiite-led government.

“The weapons that were brought inside Fallujah are huge and advanced and frankly enough to occupy Baghdad,” Deputy Interior Minister Adnan Al-Asadi said in a speech, adding that Iraqi forces are still fighting “fierce battles” there and in Ramadi. He did not elaborate on the type or quantity of the weapons.

Inside Ramadi, police said a roadside bomb hit a police convoy, killing two policemen and a local television cameraman who had been accompanying the police during the clashes.