BAGHDAD: Iraq deployed reinforcements to a military base in Anbar on Monday for an impending operation against the Daesh group in the western province, a senior officer said.

Daesh overran large parts of Anbar province in 2014, but Iraqi forces recaptured provincial capital Ramadi from the militants and are now setting their sights on areas farther up the Euphrates river valley.

“Major military reinforcements... arrived today to the Ain Al-Asad base,” army Major General Ali Ibrahim Daboun said.

The forces from the counter-terrorism service and police will take part in an operation in the coming days to retake the town of Heet and the nearby Kubaisa area, Daboun said.

The Al-Asad base is located northwest of those areas, while Ramadi, where government forces are also deployed, lies to its southeast.

Daesh overran swathes of Iraq in 2014, but its forces have since regained significant ground from the militants with the help of US-led air strikes.

Meanwhile, the UN mission in Iraq said on Monday that bombs planted by Daesh are hindering the return of displaced families to the newly liberated city of Ramadi.

It’s been two months since Iraqi forces, aided by US-led coalition airstrikes and fighters took back Ramadi from the extremists.

UN development official Lise Grande says such unexploded bombs have killed eight people in the past two weeks. She says they died either while surveying their homes or attempting to disable devices inside the city.

Grande urged caution and said that “making sure” Ramadi families can go back safely is “everyone’s responsibility.”

Ramadi, the provincial capital of Ramadi, fell to the Daesh group in May, a major setback for US-allied Iraqi forces at time. It was liberated in December.