Iraq army batters rebels

Iraq army batters rebels
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Highlights

Tikrit: Iraq Army Batters Rebels, Iraq\'s army has routed Sunni militants in a major offensive on the northern city of Tikrit, state media said on Saturday.

  • US drones flying over Baghdad to provide protection for US citizens
  • Clashes kill 21 Iraqi troops south of Baghdad


Tikrit: Iraq's army has routed Sunni militants in a major offensive on the northern city of Tikrit, state media said on Saturday. State television said the governor's HQ had been recaptured and 60 fighters from the Isis militant group killed. A spokesman for the rebels confirmed heavy fighting but implied the attack had failed, saying they were pursuing what was left of the army offensive. The rebels control large swathes of the north and west after lightning raids that captured the second city, Mosul.
Smoke rising in the skyline after airstrikes by the Iraq military in the northern city of Mosul on Saturday (AP/PTI)
On Saturday, thousands of Iraqi troops backed by tanks and air power attacked Tikrit from four directions, state TV said. It said there had been complete success in clearing Isis from the city, with some militant commanders among the 60 killed. It said the other insurgents there had fled. Tikrit fell on 11 June to rebels of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis).

Iraqi officials say heavy clashes between security forces and Sunni insurgents have killed at least 21 troops south of Baghdad. Police officials say the fighting raged for hours Saturday near the town of Jurf al-Sakhar, some 50 kilometres south of the capital.

Meanwhile, Armed American drones were flying over Baghdad to defend US military advisers and diplomats as Iraqi forces readied a massive operation Saturday to take back Saddam Hussein's hometown from Sunni militants. Syrian rebels and Al-Qaeda launched a counter-offensive to expel the Islamist State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from Albu Kamal town on the Iraq border, a monitor said.

The operation came just days after some fighters from Al-Qaeda's Syria franchise, Al-Nusra Front, pledged loyalty to ISIL in Albu Kamal, after it led an offensive in Iraq and seized chunks of territoryBut not all Al-Nusra fighters defected and those who refused to submit to the jihadist group joined forces with other Syrian rebel groups to launch the counter-offensive.

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