Iraqi security troops, backed by Shia, Sunni volunteers and tribal forces, have reportedly entered the strategic city of Tikrit from multiple directions, reports say.
Iraqi forces have reportedly taken control of the al-Qadisiyah neighborhood from ISIL Takfiri terrorists. The Takfiris are now besieged in the center of the city.
According to reports, the streets of Tikrit have been covered with dead bodies of the ISIL terrorists. Some of the terrorists were killed by the Iraqi forces, while others were executed by their fellow Takfiris for fleeing the battle.
In a statement, the Tikrit tribesman have announced that they too are participating in the fight to push out the Takfiris from Tikrit.
Iraqi warplanes conducted several airstrikes on ISIL militants in Tikrit.
Peshmarga forces have attacked the ISIL terrorists in Riyad district near Hawija, located 240 kilometers (150 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad.
The terrorists have reportedly fled to the town of Shirqat north of Tikrit on the way to Mosul.
Meanwhile, Press TV correspondent said the ISIL terrorists have planted many explosive devices inside the Tikrit hospital and plan to detonate them “once Iraqi forces get there.”
The Takfiris have been using the hospital as a major hideout and intelligence information center.
“From the right, Iraqi forces’ artillery and tanks are located there, and they are bombing Tikrit right now” as they continue the large-scale military operation to liberate the strategic city, she added.
According to Press TV reporter, Iraqi forces have engaged the Takfiri terrorist in the eastern side of the city in an offensive which started from the al-Alam district.
The Iraqi forces are also reportedly preparing to step up their military operations from the western, southern and northern sides of Tikrit on Wednesday morning.
Reports say some 2500 to 3000 militants are in Tikrit, with most of them being foreign nationals from Africa. The leaders of the ISIL Takfiri group have reportedly fled the city.
The Iraqi army has been launching massive operations in the past several days to retake Tikrit from the terrorists.
Last week, 30,000 Iraqi forces started a huge operation to recapture the embattled city of Tikrit in the northern province of Salahuddin from Takfiri elements.
According to reports, a number of villages and oilfields near Tikrit, which is the birthplace of Iraqi former dictator Saddam Hussein, have been retaken.
Located some 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad, Tikrit was overrun by the ISIL terrorists in summer 2014 along with Iraq’s second-largest city of Mosul and other areas in the Arab country’s Sunni heartland.
Tikrit has a strategic position as it sits on the road to Mosul.
The ISIL terrorists, many of whom were initially trained by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, now control parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria. They have been engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their control.
