ISIS attack against Tikrit led to the killing of 22 persons

Thirty fighters of ISIS extremist group have been killed during the airstrikes targeting their strongholds in the Iraqi city of Mousl. Meanwhile, military intelligence directorate revealed the killing of a number of ISIS leading members in Ahramat district of the city’s right bank.

In the same context, Iraq’s Province of Salahaldin witnessed the infiltration of a number of militants loyal to extremist ISIS group to the Iraqi city of Tikrit, leading to intensive clashes between the Iraqi security forces on one hand and the extremist militants on the other hand. According to security sources, the clashes led to the killing of 22 persons and injury of 31 persons in the city’s Zohoor district.

The source revealed that the militants loyal to ISIS attacked a security patrol, as the Iraqi forces clashed with them leading to the killing of 15 persons and the injury of other 20, including Colonel Khaled Jassar and his son. Spokesperson of Iraq’s Interior Ministry Saad Maan revealed that the Iraqi security forces managed to kill two suicide bombers during their attempt to attack the Iraqi forces in Zohoor district.

He added that the Iraqi forces managed to undermine the extremists’ attack, stressing that the situation is under security control. Security sources revealed that an officer and three soldiers have been killed during the attack, as ISIS extremist elements opened the fire on the security patrol, adding that the clashes led to the killing of a number of civilians.

A total of 31 bodies were taken to hospital, including 14 belonging to policemen, said Nawfal Mustafa, a doctor at the city’s main hospital. The death toll rose in the morning as more bodies were found, belonging to civilians killed in their shops.

The attacks targeted a police checkpoint and the house of a police colonel, who was killed with four members of his family, officers said. The Iraqi Interior Ministry had, however, made no mention of the casualties, and declared controlling the situation after thwarting an attack by suicide bombers in Tikrit, the capital of Salahuddin province.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Saad Maan said security troops in Salahuddin killed two suicide bombers who attempted attacking a police patrol at al-Zohour district in Tikrit. As many as 1,115 persons, excluding security personnel, were killed and injured due to violence in the country, in March, according to The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI).

Head of Iraqi National Alliance Ammar Al Hakim criticized the raise of Kurdistan’s flag over Kirkuk, saying that it is hasty decision. He stressed the need for taking serious steps to resolve the problems through negotiations.