Iraqi government troops and allied militiamen launched a major operation on Tuesday to retake the city of Tikrit from Sunni militants, senior officials said.
“The Iraqi army and (Shiite) volunteers, backed by Iraqi helicopters, are taking part” in the operation to retake the hometown of executed former president Saddam Hussein, a high-ranking army officer told.
This is the third such attempt after similar attempts had failed. In the second attempt the iraqi army forces had actually taken over the streets of Tikrit before being ambushed with suicide bombers dropping from buildings on their heads, in the narrow bylanes of the city.