Iraq army launches offensive to retake Tikrit

The Iraqi army verbally expresses it has launched a major offensive against to retake Tikrit from Sunni rebels, amid contesting claims over who controls the city’s university.

The main ground operation, which commenced on Saturday, followed cumbersomely hefty fighting in the city between Sunni rebels and Iraqi special forces, who were endeavoring to establish a foothold at Tikrit University.

Iraqi military sources claimed to have captured the university but the revolters led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) verbalized they had prosperously repelled the assailment.

Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from Baghdad, verbalized Iraqi armoured divisions have been moving towards Tikrit from Sammara, a nearby city where regime forces had been massing.

The Iraqi army had eradicated a convoy of about 20 rebel conveyances between Samarra and Tikrit, Iraqi State TV reported.

Social media accounts associated with ISIL verbalized that they had ravaged at least 10 humvees, six tanks and a helicopter in the clashes.