Security forces free 2 villages, archaeological site near Iraq's Shirqat

Iraqi security forces on Saturday retook control of two villages and an Assyrian archaeological site from the Islamic State (IS) militants in Salahudin province, the provincial police chief told Xinhua.

The latest gains against IS militants came hours after two senior security officials escaped suicide attacks and four soldiers killed in coordinated attacks in the province's capital city Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad.

The troops and allied paramilitary Sunni tribal fighters freed the villages of al-Zuwiyah and al-Namil in south of the newly-freed town of Shirqat, some 280 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, Maj. Gen. Dhamin al-Jubouri, the provincial police chief, told Xinhua.

The troops also recaptured the archaeological site of Qal'at Shirqat, just south of Shirqat, al-Jubouri said.

The archaeological site lies on the western bank of the river Tigris. It is a remnant city of the last Ashurite Kingdom, which flourished in mid-3rd millennium BC (about 2600 - 2500 BC) to the 14th century AD.

Earlier in the day, a provincial security source told Xinhua that the provincial capital city of Tikrit was the scene of deadly attacks that killed a total of 12 people and wounded 23.

According to the source, al-Jubouri himself and Sheikh Jasim al-Jebara, head of the security committee of Salahudin provincial council, escaped two suicide car bomb attacks targeted their convoys near a security checkpoint at the northern entrance of Tikrit.

The two suicide attacks killed eight people and wounded 23 others, most of them were security members and bodyguards, the source said.

In a separate incident, gunmen attacked al-Salam security checkpoint, north of Tikrit, killing four soldiers before fleeing the scene, the source added.

On Thursday, the security forces and allied tribal fighters retook control of Shirqat and raised the Iraqi flags over its government headquarters.

The liberation of the town, the last one under IS control in Salahudin province, is part of a major offensive to liberate the IS stronghold in Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh.

The Sunni-dominated province of Salahudin has witnessed a series of deadly attacks since security forces and allied paramilitary units, known as Hashd Shaabi, retook the province from IS militants who seized a large part of it in June 2014. Endit