Iraq declared the city of Ramadi liberated from the Islamic State group on Monday and raised the national flag over its government complex after clinching a landmark victory against the jihadists.

Fighters brandishing rifles danced in the Anbar provincial capital as top commanders paraded through the streets after recapturing the city they lost to IS in May.

Islamic State group jihadists have closed the gates of a dam in the Iraqi city of Ramadi which they seized last month, posing a humanitarian and security threat, officials said Tuesday.

IS fighters have repeatedly attempted to control dams in Iraq, in some cases reducing the flow of water to areas under government control or flooding swathes of land to impede military operations.

Attacks including suicide bombings outside a provincial government compound killed 19 people in Iraq Wednesday, just weeks before a general election that will be a key test for security forces.

The latest violence comes a amid a protracted surge in bloodshed, fueled primarily by widespread anger among the Sunni Arab minority, and by the civil war in neighboring Syria.

Iraqi soldiers and police backed by helicopters and tanks on Monday battled militants for control of a northern town that has repeatedly changed hands in recent days, officials said.

Militants on Thursday took part of Sulaiman Bek and nearby areas in Salaheddin province, north of Baghdad, setting off a cycle of clashes with security forces.

Iraqi government employees returned to work under tight security in Ramadi on Sunday, but militants still held parts of the Anbar provincial capital and all of another nearby city.

Armored vehicles and tanks were deployed at intersections in Ramadi, an Agence France Presse journalist reported, while a police officer said militants controlled two areas in the city as a crisis in Anbar province entered its 14th day.

Iraqi troops failed to recapture jihadist-held areas of Anbar provincial capital Ramadi in a night-time assault that left four civilians dead, medical and security officials said on Tuesday.

Fighters loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were still in control of the south of the city, west of Baghdad, after fighting off the assault, police said.