Iraqi troops backed by helicopter gunships launched an operation to take back the northern city of Tikrit from Sunni militants on Saturday as Iraq said it had received a first batch of Sukhoi warplanes from Russia to aid in the fight.

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The push on Tikrit began before dawn in an operation that includes commandos, tanks and helicopters, as well as pro-government Sunni fighters and Shiite volunteers, military officials said.

Government planes launched air strikes as clashes broke out across the city, witnesses said. Thousands of Iraqi troops advanced on the city in the most ambitious operation Iraqi forces have carried out since insurgents overran parts of five provinces in recent weeks.

After watching much of Iraq slip out of government hands after a lightning offensive across the country by insurgents led by the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS or ISIL), the military sought to portray the push as a significant step that puts the army back on the attack.

Jawad al-Bolani, a security official in the Salahuddin Operation Command, said the immediate objective was to retake control of Tikrit, the hometown of former dictator Saddam Hussein and one of two major cities to fall to the militants along with Mosul.

He said there was no concrete timeline for the conclusion of the operation.

Iraqi military spokesman Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said air strikes launched by helicopter gunships before dawn targeted insurgents who were attacking troops at a university campus on Tikrit’s northern outskirts. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Iraq said it had received a first batch of Sukhoi warplanes from Russia, with the newly purchased Su-25 fighter jets expected to be pressed into service as soon as possible.

The Su-25s are designed to launch ground attacks, making them useful for the Iraqi air force as it tries to root out ISIS militants from the towns and cities they have seized.

Slow progress

A senior security official said there were sporadic clashes around the University of Tikrit, as well as south of the city. Iraqi forces, which are moving north toward Tikrit from the shrine city of Samarra, are making slow progress, he said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

Tikrit residents reached by telephone confirmed that air raids took place at the university around dawn Saturday. They reported fighting between the Islamic State and Iraqi forces to the southeast as well, but said militants are still in control of the city and patrolling the streets. Some residents described black smoke rising from a presidential palace complex located along the edge of the Tigris River after army helicopters opened fire on the compound.

They spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for their safety.

Another Tikrit resident, Muhanad Saif al-Din, said the city has emptied out in recent days as locals flee ahead of anticipated clashes.

“Tikrit has become a ghost town because a lot of people left over the past 72 hours, fearing random aerial bombardment and possible clashes as the army advances toward the city,” Saif al-Din said. “The few people who remain are afraid of possible revenge acts by Shiite militiamen who are accompanying the army. We are peaceful civilians and we do not want to be victims of this struggle.”

He said the city has been without power or water since Friday night.

The military also carried out three airstrikes on insurgent held Mosul early Saturday. One of the air raids hit a commercial area that did not have obvious military target, residents said.

ISIS attacks army camp near Baghdad

In other parts of the country, the militants were on the offensive, however. In Jurf al-Sakhar, just 53 miles (85km) south of the capital Baghdad, ISIS fighters launched a major attack on an army camp, firing mortars and RPG rounds.

Police sources said at least 60 militants had been killed in the attack along with more than 15 Iraqi security forces members.

“The ISIS terrorists fired many mortars at the camp and then started their offensive. They managed to break into the camp but could not hold their positions due to army helicopters cover,” a police colonel said.

Since early June, the radical ISIS has overrun most majority Sunni areas in the north and west of Iraq, capturing the biggest northern city Mosul and fanning southwards.

ISIS vows to re-create a medieval-style caliphate erasing borders from the Mediterranean to the Gulf and they deem all Shiites to be heretics deserving death.

They boast of executing scores of Shiite government soldiers captured in Tikrit.

Iraq’s large, US-trained and equipped military melted away in the face of the offensive, sapping morale and public confidence in its ability to stem the militant surge - let alone claw back lost ground. If successful, the Tikrit operation could help restore a degree of faith in the security forces.

Maliki fighting for his job

It also would provide a boost to embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is fighting for his job as many former allies drop their support and Iraqis increasingly express doubts about his ability to unify the country.

Al-Maliki has shown little inclination publicly to step aside, and instead appears set on a third consecutive term as prime minister after his bloc won the most seats in April elections.

However, his hopes of staying on as leader took a significant blow Friday when Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who commands unswerving loyalty from many Shiites in Iraq and beyond, said the country's political blocs should agree on the next premier, parliament speaker and president within the next few days before the parliament convenes on Tuesday.

Under Iraq’s post-Saddam Hussein governing system, the prime minister has always been a Shiite while the largely ceremonial post of president is held by a Kurd and the speaker of parliament is a Sunni.

Sistani’s call could make it difficult for Maliki to stay on as caretaker leader, as he has since April’s elections. It means that he must either build a coalition to confirm himself in power for a third term or step aside.

The United States and other world powers have pressed Maliki to reach out to the country’s Sunni and Kurdish minorities and have called for a more inclusive government that can address longstanding grievances. Maliki has widely been accused of monopolizing power and alienating Sunnis, who have long complained of being unfairly targeted by security forces.

Iraq is grappling with its worst crisis since the last US troops withdrew in December 2011, raising the specter of the fragmentation of the country along sectarian and ethnic lines. The United States has watched the turmoil with a wary eye. Already, Washington has already deployed 180 of 300 troops promised by President Barack Obama to assist and advise Iraqi troops.

The US also has started flying armed Predator drones over Baghdad to protect American interests, a Pentagon official said Friday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the new flights on the record.

More than 1,200 Chinese workers who were trapped in the embattled northern Iraqi city of Samarra have been evacuated to Baghdad, China’s Xinhua state news agency said Saturday. It said the Chinese arrived safely at a Baghdad hotel, with the Iraqi military providing security.

The report said that China Machinery Engineering Corporation employed the workers at a power plant construction site in Samarra, near where security forces are battling fighters from the Islamic State.

The report didn’t specify who evacuated the workers but said 45 were transported by helicopter on Wednesday, with the rest arriving in two separate groups by bus over the next two days. More than 10,000 Chinese are in Iraq, many of them employees with Chinese firms.

(FRANCE with AP, REUTERS)

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