Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- As Islamic militants continue their murderous advance across Iraq, they have a new target in their sights: the city of Baquba, less than 40 miles north of Baghdad.
Gunbattles erupted in the city, only a 45-minute drive from the capital, on Tuesday as fighters and Iraqi government forces clashed.
Civilians are fleeing violence there and elsewhere in Iraq even as the United States bolsters its manpower in the region while it mulls what action to take.
According to a Baquba police official and an official in the Baquba governor's office, militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or
ISIS, have "made a great advance on Baquba" and are pushing very hard to take it, but the city has not fallen. The Baquba officials told CNN that ISIS is moving in on the western side of Baquba and that villages just west of the city, as well as some areas in western Baquba, are under ISIS control.
Kurdish security sources also reported violence near Saadiya, about 55 miles (89 kilometers) north of Baghdad, as Kurdish fighters, known as Peshmerga, seek to retake control from ISIS militants there. The two sides are battling for control of Bashir village, southwest of Kirkuk city, as terrified civilians flee shelling by ISIS.