Rockets and mortars echoed across Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit on Thursday as Iraqi security forces clashed with Islamic State militants a day after sweeping into the Sunni city north of Baghdad.
Recapturing Tikrit is seen as a key step toward rolling back the extremist group, which seized much of northern and western Iraq last summer and controls about a third of Iraq and Syria.
Iraqi troops and allied Shiite militiamen entered Tikrit for the first time on Wednesday from the north and south. The head of the military operation told The Associated Press on Thursday that troops would launch phase two of the offensive later in the day as they try to reach the city centre. The militants were trying to repel security forces with snipers, suicide car bombs, heavy machine guns and mortars, he said, speaking anonymously as he was not authorised to brief the media.
Tikrit, the capital of Saladin province, sits on the Tigris River about 130 kilometres north of Baghdad. Several of Saddam’s palaces remain there, and supporters of the deceased dictator are believed to have played a key role in the Islamic State group’s seizure of the city last year.
In an interview with The Associated Press on the front line, Iraqi Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi said he expected security forces to reach the centre of Tikrit within three to four days. The operation to retake Tikrit is “essential to opening a corridor for security forces to move from the south to Mosul,” he said, referring to Iraq’s second-largest city and the militants’ biggest stronghold.
He described the operation as “100% Iraqi, from the air and ground.”
Military officials told the AP they are advancing with caution in an effort to limit damage to the city’s infrastructure, so that residents can return quickly once Tikrit is retaken.
Earlier, al-Obeidi visited troops and met with senior military commanders of the Tikrit operation as well as Maj Gen Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.