Dozens of military vehicles, backed by tanks, armored vehicles and helicopter gunships advanced in the early morning from four routes towards the city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The main route of the troops was launched from the areas near the city of Samarra, some 50 km south of Tikrit, but the security forces were stopped by the Sunni militants in an area near the town of Dijla, some 25 km south of Tikrit, the source said, adding that the gunmen booby-trapped the buildings and all the roads leading to Tikrit to hamper the troops advance.
Iraqi aircraft carried out intensive air strikes in and around the city of Tikrit, targeting the posts of the Sunni militant, including those who are linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL), an al-Qaida offshoot, the source said without giving further details.
On June 11, militant groups took control of the city of Tikrit when hundreds of gunmen entered the city during the advance of the Sunni militants.....................http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/867915.shtml
29/6/14
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Battle for Tikrit continues as Iraq receives Russian jets...
ReplyDeleteThere were fresh clashes in the Iraq’s Tikrit on Sunday as government forces continued an offensive to recapture the city from Sunni militants as Russia delivered a first batch of Sukhoi warplanes to aid Baghdad in its fight against insurgents.
Government planes pounded Tikrit with air strikes as fighting broke out across the city, witnesses said, as thousands of troops advanced in the most ambitious operation Iraqi forces have carried out since insurgents led by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS or ISIL) overran swathes of five provinces weeks earlier.
The predominantly Sunni city, former dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown and a hotbed of antipathy toward Iraq’s Shiite-led government, is one of two major urban centers that fell to insurgents earlier this month during their lightning offensive across the country’s north and west.
Iraqi forces began their assault on Tikrit on Saturday with a multi-pronged attack spearheaded by ground troops backed by tanks and helicopters.
The insurgents appeared to have repelled the military’s initial push, however, and had retained control of most the city on Sunday, a provincial official said by telephone, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief the media..............http://www.france24.com/en/20140629-battle-tikrit-continues-iraq-receives-russian-jets-isis/
29/6/14