Iraqi forces restored on Thursday a town from the so-called ’Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) takfiri group in Anbar province and evacuated 10,000 civilians as they advanced up the Euphrates valley.

Iraqi forces restored on Thursday a town from the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri group in Anbar province and evacuated 10,000 civilians as they advanced up the Euphrates valley, a security spokesman said.

"Counter-terrorism forces and army troops liberated the Zankura area in a swift military operation," Sabah al-Noman, spokesman of the elite Counter-Terrorism Service, told AFP.

"They evacuated 10,000 people who were transferred to a safe area," he said.

An army colonel in the region said they would be offered first aid and then taken to camps for displaced people.

Zankura lies on a bend in the Euphrates river northwest of Ramadi, capital of Anbar province that Iraqi forces brought under full control last month.

The rural area around 125 kilometers (80 miles) west of Baghdad is on the way to Hit, a town which Iraqi forces have declared as their next target.

The official said 80 ISIL terrorists were killed in the operation but gave no figure for casualties in government ranks.

"Our forces also arrested 56 ISIL members who had shaved their beards and were trying to blend in with the fleeing families," the spokesman said.

He said the Iraqi flag was raised on the highest building in Zankura.

The sprawling province of Anbar -- which borders  Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia -- was at the heart of the "caliphate" that ISIL proclaimed in 2014.

Federal forces are also pushing down from Salaheddin province towards Haditha, a city in western Anbar which ISIL never seized but has attacked relentlessly since 2014.

Moreover, the US-led coalition reported four air strikes in the Ramadi area on Wednesday.

According to the International Organization for Migration, 44 percent of the more than 3.3 million people displaced in Iraq since the beginning of 2014 are from Anbar.