Iraqi troops enter suburbs of ISIL-held Tikrit: Reports
The first groups of Iraqi forces have reportedly entered the suburbs of Tikrit, the administrative center of northern Salahuddin province, as an operation is underway to recapture the city.
Over 27,000 Iraqi soldiers and Shia volunteers launched a massive operation from three directions on Sunday to liberate Tikrit, the hometown of Iraq’s executed dictator Saddam Hussein, from ISIL Takfiri terrorists.
Hours before the beginning of the operation, Iraqi Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief Haider al-Abadi called on ISIL supporters in Tikrit to surrender, promising them a pardon.
"I call upon those who have been misled or committed a mistake to lay down arms and join their people and security forces in order to liberate their cities,'' Abadi said during a news conference in Samarra, another key city in Salahuddin which is located 95 kilometers (60 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad.
Abadi traveled to Samarra to "supervise the operation to liberate Tikrit from the terrorist gangs,” the premier’s office said in a statement.
The Iraqi military backed by volunteer forces has been fighting against the ISIL terrorists in Salahuddin since mid-2014. The troops have also taken back some areas in the province from the Takfiri terrorists.
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.
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