Iraqi forces claim to have retaken Tikrit

Having launched a robust offensive against the Sunni extremists, Iraqi forces claimed to have retaken the strategic town of Tikrit from the ISIS (Islamic State of Syria and Iraq) rebels, the state TV reported on Sunday.

Armed with tanks and helicopter gunships, Iraqi forces carried out airstrikes on Sunni fighters of the ISIS in Tikrit and claimed to have killed dozens of insurgents.

According to the state media, the ISIS had been completely eliminated from Tikrit, the hometown of dictator Saddam Hussein, which had fallen to the militants on June 11.

If confirmed, this would be a major gain for the Iraqi Army which has so far shown a feeble resistance to the lightning ISIS offensive.

Also, reports said that Iraqi force were now preparing to advance towards north and aiming to wrest back the control of Mosul from ISIS militants.

According to the BBC, the counter-offensive launched by Iraqi Army in Tikrit was being co-ordinated with American military advisers. The report added that the soldiers were aided bu Sunni tribesmen and Shia militias.

However, the US denies that its military advisers are directly involved in hostilities and they are in Iraq just to protect the American personnel on ground.

The US has sent 300 military advisers to Iraq and has also confirmed flying armed drones there, but only to protect its interests.

America, which has ruled out direct military intervention in Iraq, has pushed for the formation of a new “inclusive” government in Iraq which can address the problems of all, especially the Sunnis and Kurds, who have felt marginalised during Shiite PM Nuri al-Maliki's rule.

The US has not directly called for PM Maliki's resignation, but has dropped broad hints that Iraq's crisis will be solved only after a new government is formed.

Also, Iraq's influential Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Sistani has called for the appointment of PM by Tuesday  before the new parliament is convened.

Earlier, US Secretary of State John Kerry had visited Baghdad and told that Maliki had assured him that a new Iraqi cabinet will be formed by July 1.

Iraq is in throes of a deadly insurgency crisis as the ISIS militants have so far continued to advance ahead consistently, massacring Shia soldiers and also posting the videos online.

According to the UN, over 1,100 have been killed since the ISIS offensive and over a million have been displaced.

-zee news