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Iraqi forces seize part of Tikrit amid heavy clashes with IS

Xinhua, March 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Iraqi security forces on Wednesday retook control of part of the Tikrit city, capital of Salahudin province, as clashes with the Islamic State (IS) militants continue, provincial security source and official said.

The troops and government-backed Shiite and Sunni militias entered the city, which located some 170 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, and captured most of the northern district of al-Qadsiyah, the security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

They also captured the industrial district and two nearby western districts, while more troops are making their way to the center of the city from the southern districts of Shisheen and Albu Obied, the source said.

An Iraqi flag was raised by the troops on the building of a military hospital, the source added.

The troops, supported by dozens of tanks, armored vehicles, heavy artillery shelling and Iraqi aircraft, are pushing forward amid heavy clashes with the IS militants, who already prepared the battle scene by planting hundreds of landmines, roadside bombs and booby-trapped buildings, the source told Xinhua.

"Tikrit will be liberated soon after the security forces, Hashid al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization) militias and fighters of the Sunni tribes have surrounded the city from all directions and are moving forward to clear it from the extremists," the provincial governor, Raed al-Jubouri, told reporters.

Early on Tuesday, the Iraqi forces launched their major offensive as they tried to enter the outer neighborhoods of Tikrit, but were slowed by fierce clashes with IS militants and roadside bombs.

Some 30,000 Iraqi troops and thousands of allied Shiite and Sunni militias have been involved in a week-long offensive to recapture Tikrit and other key towns and villages in northern part of the Salahudin province from IS militants.

Large parts of the province have been under IS control since June 2014 after bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and the IS group.

The militant group has taken control of the country's northern city of Mosul and later seized swathes of territories in Nineveh and other predominantly Sunni provinces. Endit