Iraq braced for the Battle of Baghdad: Chilling images show ISIS victory parade after fanatics seize key city of Ramadi – just 60 miles from the capital – in an orgy of violence and beheadings

ISIS militants have held a twisted victory parade after taking the key city of Ramadi in an orgy of violence and beheadings – and the extremists could march on the Iraqi capital Baghdad within the next month.

Mutilated bodies scatter the streets of the ‘Gateway of Baghdad’, where Islamic State slaughtered around 500 and forced nearly 25,000 to flee their homes over the last few days.

Now ISIS has released images of militants celebrating, children wielding automatic weapons and a fleet of pick-up trucks carrying its jubilant fighters through the blood-stained streets of Ramadi.

Shi’ite fighters have already launched a counter-offensive to recapture the city, but these kinds of tactics play straight into Islamic State’s grand plan to spark all-out war in the region, according to the Middle East director of counter-terrorism think-tank RUSI.

Islamic State militants are already marching east towards the Habbaniya army base – around 20 miles east of Ramadi – where a column of 3,000 Shi’ite paramilitaries are amassing, witnesses and a military officer has said.

And if ISIS manage to reach Baghdad, it would be ‘utter carnage’, Professor Gareth Stansfield told MailOnline.

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Show of strength: ISIS flags line the streets of Ramadi as a procession of militants – riding on the backs of Toyota Land Cruisers – parade through the city

 Surrounded: ISIS already has control of Fallujah which is on Baghdad’s doorstep and has now conquered the strategically important city of Ramadi further west. It has Sunni support to the south of the Iraqi capital and is waging battles with security forces in the north to effectively ‘surround’ Baghdad

Parade: After slaughtering 500 people and forcing over 8,000 from their homes, ISIS triumphantly drive through Ramadi (pictured) in a fleet of pick-up trucks

Sick: One twisted image released through Islamic State’s social media channels shows a small child carrying what appears to be a mortar shell in Ramadi –  after their victory in the city

Insurgency: The city where ISIS militants fired rocket propelled grenades contains sacred Shi’ite shrines which – if destroyed – would force the militia to take on ISIS head on, experts have said

Innocence lost: ISIS has released pictures showing its militants – and young followers (pictured) – celebrating the capture of Ramadi as Shi’ite militias prepare a counter-offensive to retake the city

Video shows destruction wrought on Ramadi by IS fighters

He said: ‘If ISIS turn up in great numbers in Baghdad, it will be an absolute slaughter between Sunni’s and Shia’s there.

‘They [ISIS] are now having so many successes, and moving so quickly, that Baghdad is under very real threat from ISIS forces outside Baghdad and also the ISIS terror cells inside Baghdad as well.