Iraqi troops and militias drove Islamic State insurgents out of the town of al-Alam on Tuesday, clearing a final hurdle before a planned assault on Saddam Hussein's home city of Tikrit in their biggest offensive yet against the ultra-radical group.
The power base of executed former president Saddam's clan, Tikrit is the focus of a counter-offensive against Islamic State by more than 20,000 troops and Shia Muslim militias known as Hashid Shaabi, backed by local Sunni Muslim tribes. If Iraq's Shia-led government is able to retake Tikrit it would be the first city clawed back from the Sunni insurgents and would give it momentum in the next, pivotal stage of the campaign - to recapture Mosul, the largest city in the north.
A Reuters photographer saw dozens of families, who earlier fled al-Alam to escape Islamic State rule, return to the town, celebrating and slaughtering sheep for the victorious forces. "I announce officially that the town is under the total control of security forces, the Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) units and local tribal fighters," said local mayor Laith al-Jubouri.
"We rejoice in this victory and we want al-Alam to be the launchpad for the liberation of Tikrit and Mosul," he told Reuters by telephone. Mosul in the far north is the largest city held by the ultra-radical Islamic State, who now rule a self-declared cross-border caliphate in Sunni regions of Syria and Iraq.
But the ultra-radical group over the past few months has gradually lost ground in Iraq to the army, Shia militias and Kurdish peshmerga forces, backed by air strikes carried out by a US-led coalition of mainly Western and allied Arab states. The United States says Baghdad did not seek aerial backup from the coalition in the Tikrit campaign. Instead, support on the ground has come from neighbouring Iran, Washington's long-time regional rival, which backs the Shia militias and has sent an elite Revolutionary Guard commander to oversee part of the battle.
The Iraqi army and militias now control the two towns to the north and south of Tikrit along the Tigris river and appear ready to move on the city itself. Security officials said the assault could start as early as Wednesday, although the 10-day campaign has so far been marked by gradual and steady advances rather than rapid attacks.
Security officials said Islamic State fighters blew up a bridge over the Tigris on Tuesday, aiming to hinder any advance. Both al-Dour and al-Alam lie on the east bank of the river, opposite Tikrit. But the army has a large military base on the same western side from which it could send forces into Tikrit. Hundreds of Shia army recruits who abandoned the Speicher military base last June were shot dead in one of the biggest mass killings carried out by Islamic State fighters.
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