Posted on 03/11/2015 12:50:35 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Iraqi forces entered a district of Tikrit on Wednesday, stepping up an offensive launched 10 days ago to wrest the northern city back from jihadists, army officers said.
The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group hit back with coordinated bomb attacks on government-held areas of the western city of Ramadi, killing at least 10 people, police and hospital sources said.
A major general told AFP on condition of anonymity that government forces were battling "to cleanse the neighbourhood of Qadisiyah" in Tikrit.
"We were able to control Tikrit military hospital, which is close to the centre of the city," the hometown of executed dictator Saddam Hussein, he said.
"But we are engaging in a very delicate battle because we are not facing fighters on the ground, we are facing booby-trapped terrain and sniper fire. Our movement is slow," the officer said.
He said the forces that entered Qadisiyah on Wednesday morning included army and police, as well as members of the large volunteer force called Popular Mobilisation units.
Iraqi forces have been closing in for days but had largely refrained from entering the city, launching only small-scale operations on the edges of Tikrit and laying siege to it.
Several other military and political sources confirmed that Iraqi forces had retaken control of a significant part of Qadisiyah, a large neighbourhood stretching north of the city centre.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Unfortunately, it's Obama's pals the Iranians doing the heavy lifting now in Iraq.
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