BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces entered the University of Anbar in southern Ramadi on Sunday and clashed with Islamic State militants inside the compound, the joint operations command said in a statement broadcast on state television.

"We announce to you the entry of the counter-terrorism forces into the University of Anbar. They are now engaging in battles to clean it up from the remains of Daesh and dismantling bombs and clear roads," the statement said, using a pejorative term for the radical Sunni insurgents.

Security forces and militia groups launched an offensive in April in the western province of Anbar, Iraq's largest, to retake the Sunni heartland from Islamic State.