Tikrit to be fully taken within hours: Iraqi minister
Iraq’s Interior Minister Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban says the Iraqi army and volunteer forces are expected to take full control of the northern city of Tikrit “within the coming hours.”
He made the announcement in remarks to the reporters on the frontlines in the city on Wednesday, which is a day after the Iraqi forces, backed by Shia and Sunni volunteers, managed to recapture Tikrit’s center and raise the Iraqi flag over the Salahuddin provincial headquarters.
“There are only a few pockets of resistance left and we will announce the good news within the coming hours that these pockets of resistance are eliminated,” he added, noting that the Iraqi government is planning to help Tikrit’s displaced residents to return to their homes and defuse roadside bombs and car bombs planted by the ISIL Takfiri terrorists in the area.
“After clearing the area from roadside bombs and car bombs, we will reopen police stations to restore normalcy in the city, and we will form committees to supervise the return of people displaced from their homes,” Ghabban said.
The Iraqi minister further highlighted that the ISIL terror group, which seized Tikrit in June last year, is “completely defeated.”
A large-scale offensive was kicked off on March 2 to wrest control of the strategic northern city, located about 140 kilometers (86 miles) northwest of the capital, Baghdad, from ISIL militants.
The city’s recapture now paves the way for the Iraqi army to take control of the country’s second-largest city, Mosul.
Also on Wednesday, Iraqi security forces fired on snipers holed up in high buildings and combed homes for remaining ISIL terrorists.
ISIL started its campaign of terror in Iraq in early June 2014. The heavily-armed militants took control of Mosul before sweeping through parts of the country’s Sunni Arab heartland.
MR/HSN/SS
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