Iraq: Army Kills over 40 ISIL Militants in Tikrit

Iraqi Ministry of Defense issued a statement on Thursday, saying that the army troops backed by  popular fighters pressed ahead with their major offensive against ISIL in Northern Tikirt, killing at least 40 militants.

It said, “The security forces managed to kill more than 40 ISIL elements in a military operation in the North of Tikrit.”

“The operation resulted in destruction of four heavy armored vehicles,” the statement added.

Earlier, the army troops intensified their offensive against the Takfiri group near the city of Ramadi and managed to take back the Morur district.

The army troops also seized control of the Anbar traffic police building in an area called Khamsa Kilometer near Ramadi. An army officer said ISIL terrorists were forced to withdraw from the building after a fierce fighting.

The Iraqi forces have tightened their noose around the terrorists in the Western city of Ramadi.

The latest developments came after Iraq’s Ministry of Defense issued a statement on Saturday, saying that the army troops claimed the lives of 45 ISIL terrorists in Western Baghdad after storming the terrorists’ hideouts.

Elsewhere in Iraq, 38 Takfiri militants were killed and 90 others captured in Salahuddin province, the statement added.

It added that elsewhere in Anbar province, Iraqi army units killed at least 16 ISIL terrorists in the Abu-Shehab neighborhood of the provincial capital Ramadi, 18 in the al-Kurma region and 20 others in the al-Qa’im area.

The ISIL Takfiri terrorists currently control shrinking swathes of Syria and Iraq. They have threatened all communities, including Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, Ezadi Kurds and others, as they continue their atrocities in Iraq.

Senior Iraqi officials have blamed Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and some Persian Gulf Arab states for the growing terrorism in their country.

The ISIL has links with Saudi intelligence and is believed to be indirectly supported by the Israeli regime.