Washington - KUNA
US officials are working "very closely" with Iraqi officials on clearing Al-Qaeda elements from Fallujah, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said on Monday. Iraqi forces -- local police with the support of the Army -- cleared most of Al-Qaeda elements out of Ramadi in a little more than a week since those elements took over much of Ramadi around the first of the new year, Harf noted during a briefing. The Iraqis "now have a plan to use some of those same tactics to do the same thing in Fallujah," she said. "Obviously, Fallujah is a more complicated situation, but I think it is important to note when there is success in doing this." US officials are working with the Iraqis politically and "also on the military and counterterrorism sides, certainly accelerating our cooperation," Harf said. Obama administration officials will keep working with the US Congress to as quickly as possible get more materials to the Iraqi government that it can use in this fight, she said