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Iraqi security forces pound militants-held town in Iraq's Salahudin

Xinhua, March 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Iraqi security forces on Sunday heavily pounded a town seized by the Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, a provincial security source said.

Meanwhile, military units and government-backed Shiite and Sunni militias intensified their build-up ahead of a major offensive to free the captured towns and areas from the IS, the source added.

The bombardment which started overnight and continued on Sunday by heavy artillery, mortars, tanks and short-range missiles targeted the town of Dour, some 150 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and surrounding areas, leaving heavy destruction in all the neighborhoods of the almost empty town, the source said.

The residents of the town left their homes earlier by the repeated bombardments and threats of looming offensive against the IS militants who have been capturing the town for months, the source added.

And a large security force moved from the town of Tuz-Khurmato, 90 km east of the provincial capital city of Tikrit, toward the militants-seized town of Hawijah in east of the neighboring province of Kirkuk, in order to attack the supply routes of the IS militant in northern the province and to prevent their associates from fleeing the offensive scene, the source said.

Meanwhile, fears mounted up among the Sunni Arab tribes in the province from possible retaliation by Shiite militias who believe that sons of some Sunni tribes collaborated with the IS extremist militants in the killing of hundreds of Shiite soldiers during the withdrawal of Iraqi forces in front of the IS advance on June 12 last year.

A source from Salahudin's Operations Command told Xinhua that a special force from Shiite militiamen, known as "Speicher Revenge Force," will be tasked with eliminating the sons of the Sunni tribes of Albu-Ajil and Albu-Nasir in the village of Ujah in south of Tikrit.

The families of the killed Shiite soldiers are accusing sons of the two Sunni tribes of participating with the IS militants in the killing of 1,700 soldiers who walked out of an airbase, known as Camp Speicher north of Tikrit, but were abducted and then killed by the IS militants and some Sunni tribesmen.

The Speicher Revenge Force is armed with various weapons in addition to bulldozers so they can destroy the homes of those who participated in Speicher crime, the source said.

The shelling on Sunday is part of a major offensive, announced earlier by the Iraqi authorities, which designed to sweep all redoubts of the IS militants across the province in order to prevent the militants from maneuvering with their groups and to surround them.

Salahudin, a predominantly Sunni province with its capital of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, is the hometown of former President Saddam Hussein.

Security has been worsening in Iraq since June 10, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and Sunni militants, who took control of the country's northern city of Mosul and the later swathes of territories in Nineveh and other predominantly Sunni provinces. Endit