Iraqi army gains ground in fight against ISIL: Reports

The Iraqi army has gained ground in its fight against terrorists from the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), latest reports show.

The Iraqi army announced that it has sent more reinforcements to the city of Samarra, north of the capital, Baghdad, after retaking control of a main road connecting the two cities.

In a televised briefing on Wednesday, Iraq’s Army Spokesman General Qassim Atta said the security forces “are continuing the operation to cleanse Samarra” of the ISIL militants.
A security source, whose name was not mentioned in the report, also told Shafaq News Agency on Wednesday that scores of rockets were seized in the Zubair district, situated west of the Iraqi southern port city of Basra, during the army’s mop-up operations against Takfiri militants on the border with Saudi Arabia.

Iraqi troops also reportedly destroyed heavy artillery and dozens of vehicles belonging to the ISIL terrorist group in the northern flashpoint city of Kirkuk.

Moreover, the Iraqi army killed a large number of ISIL militants and destroyed some 150 of their arms-laden vehicles northwest of the city of Tikrit.

On June 10, the ISIL militants took control of Mosul, the capital of Iraq’s Nineveh Province, which was followed by the fall of Tikrit, located 140 kilometers (87 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

Over the past days, Iraqi armed forces have been engaged in fierce clashes with the terrorists, who have threatened to take their acts of violence to other Iraqi cities, including the capital.

However, their advance has been slowed down as Iraqi military forces and volunteer fighters have begun engaging them on several fronts, pushing the militants out of several areas they had earlier overrun.