RAMADI, Iraq, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Gunmen stormed campus of Anbar University in Iraq's western province of Anbar early Saturday, while dozens of students and teachers were taken trapped in the school buildings, a provincial police source said.
The attack occurred early in the day when dozens of gunmen broke into the university in the provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, said the source.
Although it is still unclear who these attackers really are, the source said some of armed men were believed to have linkage with the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, an al-Qaida breakaway group in Iraq.
Large numbers of students and teachers, who were doing exams, were caught in the crossfire between the attackers and the Iraqi security forces, the source to Xinhua.
Reuters quoted its security sources as saying that hundreds of students and their professors were already taken hostage inside the university.
Meanwhile, two huge explosions occurred inside the campus, said the source, adding that the gunmen also blew up a bridge that connects the university with Ramadi.
The Iraqi security forces have now surrounded the site with helicopters hovering over the area, the same source added.
Ramadi is one of two cities in Anbar that were taken by tribal and Sunni insurgents early this year. The government forces have now regained control of central part of the city, while its suburbs and outlying areas are still the scene of bloody attacks by militants.
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