Iraqi Military (Photo : REUTERS/ALAA AL-MARJANI)
Iraqi military forces have claimed on Tuesday that they already reached the center of Tikrit and that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi confirmed this on Iraqiya TV pointing out that Tikrit has been retrieved from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants.
According to CNN, although the Iraqi military and security forces already claimed victory, the battle is still ongoing and the fighting ensues. The ISIS Militants did not yet clear the area as a significant number of them are still in Tikrit.
Tikrit has been controlled by ISIS militants since last year and the Iraqi forces being able to penetrate the area was due to the air strikes launched by the United States led attack. According to Iraqi troops, they found a lot of roadside bombs and booby traps as they tried to comb the area and make the ISIS militants surrender.
Al-Abadi noted in his interview that the success in Tikrit will be possible in other areas because they have achieved a successful retrieval of the area and that they were able to protect civilians who are still in Tikrit.
This is not the first time that Iraqi forces tried to win Tikrit from the xtremists but this attack is the most successful so far. The Iraqi military tried to take back the area since Mar. 1. If the battle in Tikrit continues to be successful, the Iraqi forces will be taking on a bigger combat as they also want to retrieve the second biggest city of Iraq, which is Mosul.
According to The New York Times, this is also not the first time that the Prime Minister of Iraq exaggerated the claim of successfully retrieving Tikrit as back in June, they also said the same but the Iraqi security forces did not succeed in taking back the land.
