On two fronts, Iraqi forces battle Islamic State for Tikrit
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| Iraqi security forces patrol in Tikrit, 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, March 12, 2015. Rockets and mortars echoed across Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit on Thursday as Iraqi security forces clashed with Islamic State militants a day after sweeping into the Sunni city north of Baghdad. |
TIKRIT, Iraq
(AP) -- Iraqi troops clashed along two fronts with Islamic State
militants in Tikrit on Thursday as rockets and mortars echoed across
Saddam Hussein's hometown a day after soldiers and allied Shiite
militiamen swept into this Sunni city north of Baghdad.
Recapturing
Tikrit is seen as a key step toward rolling back the gains of the
extremist Islamic State group, which seized much of northern and western
Iraq in a blitz last summer and now controls about a third of both Iraq
and Syria.
The offensive also will serve as a
major crucible for Iraqi forces, which collapsed under the extremists'
initial offensive last year and now face one of the Sunni militant
group's biggest strongholds.
Iraqi forces
entered Tikrit for the first time on Wednesday from the north and south.
On Thursday, they were fighting their way through the city and expected
to reach the center within three to four days, according to Lt. General
Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, the commander of the Tikrit operation.
The
IS militants were trying to repel the Iraqi forces with snipers,
suicide car bombs, heavy machine guns and mortars, said al-Saadi,
speaking to The Associated Press at the front-lines.
Tikrit,
the capital of Salahuddin province, sits on the Tigris River about 130
kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad. Several of Saddam's palaces
remain there, and supporters of the deceased dictator are believed to
have played a key role in the Islamic State group's seizure of the city
last year.
Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled
al-Obeidi, who was also at the front-line on Thursday, told the AP that
the operation to retake Tikrit is "essential to opening a corridor for
security forces to move from the south to Mosul," he said, referring to
Iraq's second-largest city and the militants' biggest stronghold.
He described the operation as "100% Iraqi, from the air and ground."
When
the Islamic State last year swept into Mosul, the U.S.-trained Iraqi
military crumbled and the militants seized tanks, missile launchers and
ammunition, steamrolling across northern Iraq. The CIA estimates the
Sunni militant group has access to between 20,000 and 31,000 fighters in
Iraq and Syria. Military officials believe there may about 150 foreign
fighters with the IS inside Tikrit, including fighters from Chechnya and
the Arab Gulf countries.
Iraqi officials now
say that at least 30,000 men - including the military, militias, Sunni
tribes and police - are fighting to capture Tikrit.
U.S.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Joint Chiefs chairman, said Wednesday that at
least 20,000 militiamen are taking part in the Tikrit fighting.
On
Thursday, militiamen were heard intercepting IS walkie-talkie signals,
listening to the militants' call for reinforcements and ordering mortar
fire on the soldiers as they closed in. Along the route between
Salahuddin's command center and the battlefield, charred remains of
tankers and cars used by suicide bombers litter the roads, and homes
bear signs of months of war, damaged by bombs and bullets.
Military
officials told the AP they are advancing with caution in an effort to
limit damage to the city's infrastructure, so that residents can return
quickly once Tikrit is retaken. A satellite image of Tikrit, released
last month by the United Nations, showed that at least 536 buildings in
Tikrit have been affected by fighting, with at least 137 completely
destroyed and 241 severely damaged.
Earlier
Thursday, al-Obeidi visited troops and met with senior military
commanders of the Tikrit operation as well as Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem
Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran's powerful
Revolutionary Guard. Soleimani and other Iranian advisers have played a
key role in Iraq in pushing the Islamic State back in recent months.
The
overt Iranian role and the prominence of Shiite militias in the
campaign have raised fears of possible sectarian cleansing should
Tikrit, an overwhelmingly Sunni city, fall to the government troops.
The
United States, which spent billions of dollars training and equipping
Iraq's army during its eight-year intervention, has said its allied
coalition carrying out airstrikes targeting the extremists has not been
involved in the ongoing Tikrit offensive.
In
November, President Barack Obama authorized the deployment of up to
1,500 more American troops to bolster Iraqi forces, which could more
than double the total number of U.S. forces to 3,100. None has a combat
role.
Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi
has appealed for more aid for his country's beleaguered ground forces,
although the U.S. spent billions of dollars training and equipping
Iraq's army during its eight-year occupation.
The
growing Iraqi impatience in many ways stems from concerns about the
speed and success of the Islamic State's advance, and the Baghdad
government's inexperience in handling a security crisis of this
magnitude. Until recently, Iraqi security forces were focused on
protecting themselves and the population against insurgent bombings and
other attacks, not on repelling an advancing force or retaking areas
seized by the militants.
By contrast, Islamic
State militants appear to operate in a fluid, decentralized command
structure that has enabled them to adapt quickly and more nimbly to the
changing environment amid airstrikes and Iraqi and Kurdish ground
offensives.
