14 killed in airstrikes and attacks across Iraq

At least 14 people were killed on Sunday in airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) militants and sporadic violent attacks across Iraq, security sources said.

In Salahudin province, Iraqi aircraft carried out airstrikes on the IS positions in the desert area in west of the city of Samarra, leaving six IS militants killed along with destroying three of their vehicles, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, Khaled Tahir al-Rifaie, professor of Sunni Islamic studies in Tikrit University, was beaten to death and his son was seriously injured when Shiite militiamen stormed their house in al-Qadsiyah district in northern the city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source said.

Rifaie's family was one of very few families remained at their homes in Tikrit during the presence of the IS militants and even after the Iraqi security forces freed the city, the source added.

Also in Tikrit, Hezbollah Brigades finally withdrew in the afternoon from the city after two days of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's orders for the Shiite militias known as Hashid Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization, to withdraw from the city.

Abadi, who is also the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces, said in a statement issued by his office late on Friday that he gave orders to the security forces to arrest anyone "breaking the law" in Tikrit.

The statement said that the prime minister ordered the security forces to preserve the properties and public facilities in the Tikrit, as Sunni politicians reported that looting and arson had taken place in the city by groups of Shiite militias within hours after the Iraqi government declared on Wednesday that forces had retaken the Sunni Muslim city from the IS militants.

Salahudin province has been the scene of Iraq's biggest offensive since March 2, which involved some 30,000 Iraqi troops and thousands of allied Shiite and Sunni militias aimed at recapturing the northern part of the province, including Tikrit and other key towns and villages, from IS militants.

In Baghdad, four policemen were killed and another wounded when gunmen opened fire on a police vehicle while moving on al-Qanat Street in eastern the capital, an Interior Ministry source anonymously told Xinhua.

Separately, three people were killed and 11 wounded, including five policemen, in mortar and rocket barrage by the IS militants on the town of Ameriyat al-Fallujah, some 40 km west of Baghdad, a local security source said.

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

The security situation in Iraq has drastically deteriorated since June 10 last year, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and the IS. Endit