Iraqi forces backed by volunteer fighters have managed to recapture the northern town of Hamrin in Iraq’s Salahuddin Province.
Reports say the Iraqi forces retook control of the town, which is located northeast of Samarra city, from Daesh during an operation on Tuesday.
At least four Daesh militants were killed and several others wounded during the operation.
The new military achievement came as the Iraqi armed forces are engaged in fierce clashes with the Daesh terrorists near the city of Tikrit.
Iraqi troops and volunteer forces have so far recaptured four districts and a village in Salahuddin Province, very close to the capital, Tikrit. The troops have brought down an Daesh flag from a communication tower in one of the liberated areas.
Several volunteer forces as well as dozens of militants were killed or wounded in the clashes.
This is the army’s biggest offensive to retake Tikrit. The city is one of the main strongholds of Daesh.
More than 30,000 Iraqi troops, supported by Shia and Sunni volunteers are zeroing in on the city.
Located some 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad, Tikrit was overrun by Daesh in summer 2014 along with Iraq’s second-largest city of Mosul and other areas in the Arab country’s Sunni heartland. Tikrit has a strategic position as it sits on the road to Mosul.
Daesh controls parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria. They have been engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their control.
Earlier on Monday, the terror group released a video showing the purported execution of four Sunni tribesmen in the Tikrit region for allegedly collaborating with the Iraqi government.
