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| Iraq | |
| Iraqi forces push into Tikrit, bombers hit Ramadi | |
| 2015-03-12 | |
Baghdad -- Iraqi security forces and militias fought their way into Saddam Hussein’s home city of Tikrit on Wednesday, advancing on two fronts in their biggest counter-offensive so far against Daesh militants.
“The forces entered Tikrit general hospital,” an official at the main military operation command centre said. “There is heavy fighting going on near the presidential palaces, next to the hospital complex.” Daesh fighters stormed into Tikrit last June during a lightning offensive that was halted just outside Baghdad. They have since used the complex of palaces built in Tikrit under Saddam, the executed former president, as their headquarters. More than 20,000 troops and Iranian-backed Shia militias known as Hashid Shaabi, supported by local Sunni tribes, launched the offensive for Tikrit 10 days ago, advancing from the east and along the banks of the Tigris. On Tuesday they took the town of Al Alam on the northern edge of Tikrit, paving the way for an attack on the city itself. “The governor of Salahuddin announces the purging of half of Qadisiya district, the largest of Tikrit’s neighbourhoods,” a statement from governor Raed Al Jubouri’s office said. The army and militia fighters raised the national flag above a military hospital in the section of Qadisiya they had retaken from the militants, security officials said. After pausing while helicopters attacked Daesh snipers and positions, the ground forces were progressing steadily, taking “one street every 30 minutes”, the security official said. He said there was fierce fighting around Tikrit police headquarters just south of Qadisiya. To the northwest, troops and Hashid Shaabi fighters clashed with Daesh militants in the industrial zone, he added. Another official said later on Wednesday that six soldiers and militia fighters were killed by sniper fire in Qadisiya in the evening. He said the advance had been halted by a combination of sniper fire and heavy fighting, and the attacking forces were waiting for militia reinforcements. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |