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World|politics|March 3, 2015 / 09:44 AM
Iraq launches major offensive to retake Tikrit from Islamic State

AKIPRESS.COM - _81345958_3 Iraq has launched a military operation to recapture Tikrit, the hometown of former leader Saddam Hussein, from Islamic State (IS) and its allies, reports BBC.

A force of about 30,000 troops and militia were said to be attacking on different fronts, backed by air strikes from Iraqi fighter jets.

Fighting is reported in towns to the north and south of Tikrit.

A Shia militia commander has told the BBC that Iran's Gen Qasem Soleimani is also taking part in the operation.

Gen Soleimani is the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' overseas operation arm, the Quds Force.

He emerged from decades in the shadows after the IS advance in Iraq last summer, personally overseeing the defence of the capital Baghdad and mobilising pro-Iranian Shia militia - by organising them as well as funnelling money and weapons to them.

Tikrit lies 150km (95 miles) north of the capital Baghdad in Salahuddin province. It was seized in June 2014 by IS militants backed by anti-government Sunni allies loyal to Saddam Hussein's banned Baath party.

A commander of a Shia militia unit involved in the offensive told BBC Persian that IS announced it had taken a number of youths hostage and threatened to kill them if government forces entered the city.

He added that the Iranians had been involved in the Tikrit operation for the past two days.

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