Iraqi forces launched attacks on Monday to retake Tikrit from the Islamic State.
The BBC reported:
Iraq has launched a military operation to recapture former leader Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit from Islamic State (IS).
Troops and militia were said to be attacking on different fronts, backed by airstrikes from Iraqi fighter jets.
The government says that its forces are advancing into the city but this has not been confirmed.
Tikrit lies 150km (95 miles) north of the capital Baghdad and was seized by IS militants in June 2014.
Al-Iraqiya TV said that IS militants had been dislodged from some areas of Salahuddin province, outside Tikrit.
It added that Iraqi troops and fighters from the Popular Mobilisation Forces, an umbrella group of Shia militia fighting IS, were moving into Tikrit as airstrikes hit militant strongholds.
Iraqi security forces and Shiite fighters chant slogans as they gather at Udhaim dam, north of Baghdad March 1, 2015.
