BAGHDAD: ISIS extremists unleashed a wave of suicide attacks targeting the Iraqi army in western Anbar province, killing at least 17 soldiers in a major blow to government efforts to dislodge the militants from the sprawling Sunni heartland, an Iraqi military spokesman said Wednesday.

The attacks came just hours after the Iraqi government Tuesday announced the start of a wide-scale operation to recapture areas under the control of the ISIS group in Anbar.

Brig. Gen. Saad Maan Ibrahim, the spokesman for the Joint Military Command, told the Associated Press the attacks took place outside the ISIS-held city of Fallujah late Tuesday night.

The militants struck near a water control station and a lock system on a canal between Lake Tharthar and the Euphrates River where army forces have been deployed for the Anbar offensive, he said.

Ibrahim added that the ISIS extremists used a sandstorm that engulfed most of Iraq Tuesday night to launch the deadly wave of bombings. He said it was not clear how many suicide attackers were involved in the bombings but they hit the military from multiple directions.

The Iraqi operation to retake Anbar, which is said to be backed by Shiite militias and Sunni pro-government fighters, is deemed critical in regaining momentum in the fight against ISIS. 

The operation by Iraqi government and allied forces to liberate Anbar and Ramadi from ISIS was launched too soon, Parliament Speaker Salim al-Juburi said Wednesday. “Zero hour was announced but this important battle should have been better prepared, especially because Anbar is a bastion,” he told AFP in an interview. 

“If victory is achieved against ISIS there, it will prepare the ground for the larger battle in Ninevah,” Juburi said.

The northwestern province of Ninevah is ISIS’ other main stronghold in Iraq. Its capital Mosul is Iraq’s second city and still holds a large civilian population. “But it was understood after the fact that the desired level of preparedness was not reached,” Juburi said.

He said the Sunni tribal fighters who had at least partially been holding off ISIS in Ramadi for months until two weeks ago need much more support and weapons.

“We have to focus on this point in our battle against ISIS, which is described as a Sunni group,” said the 43-year-old president of the council of representatives, himself a Sunni.

“Whoever confronts it must also be from the Sunni community, after being given support, and should not be second fiddle.”

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had opposed deploying Shiite militias to Anbar, a Sunni stronghold, but the poor performance of the regular forces during the fall of Ramadi left him with few options.

With U.S. support, he had started training and incorporating Sunni tribal fighters into the Popular Mobilization Forces, a solution seen as more palatable to Anbar’s Sunni population. The organization is an umbrella for Shiite militias and volunteers which Abadi wanted to turn into a more cross-sectarian force and a precursor of a National Guard.