There is absolutely no difference between what al-Qaeda is doing in Fallujah and what our “allies” have in Saudi Arabia, even the name is the same.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Members of al-Qaida’s branch in Iraq have handed out pamphlets urging residents in Fallujah to take up arms and back the militants in their weekslong fight against government troops as clashes raged on around the city, residents said Thursday.

Since late last month, Iraqi security forces and allied Sunni tribesmen have been fighting to recapture key territories overran by al-Qaida militants in the country’s Sunni-dominated Anbar province, including its two main cities — Fallujah and parts of the provincial capital, Ramadi.

Speaking to The Associated Press by telephone, Fallujah residents said militants distributed pamphlets with the emblem of the group — the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant — at main city intersections Thursday and the day before.

The pamphlets called on Fallujah residents to join the fight alongside the al-Qaida fighters, give money or open their homes as shelters, the residents said. They spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for their safety.

Another pamphlet announced that al-Qaida would form a Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice that would look into the disputes among Fallujah residents, the residents said.

Meanwhile, clashes between Iraqi security forces and al-Qaida militants raged in two neighborhoods in Fallujah, 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of Baghdad, from late Wednesday night to Thursday morning, the residents said.