Clashes intensify as Iraqi forces battle militants in Tikrit

Baghdad, June 29 (IANS) Fierce clashes erupted in Tikrit as the Iraqi security forces tried to wrestle back the control of the city from Sunni militant groups Sunday, security sources said.

Helicopter gunships pounded neighbourhoods in and around the Salahudin provincial capital of Tikrit, 140 km north of Baghdad, as the troops held control of the Tikrit University in northern part of the city, Xinhua quoted a provincial police source as saying.

In an air strike, the helicopters bombed a house in Tikrit's al-Uwinat area, leaving nine people killed, the source said.

Military spokesman Qassim Atta, said in Baghdad, that the Iraqi security forces are in full control of the university compound.

"The troops are there and the university is secured and the Iraqi flag is hoisting on the main building of the university," Atta said.

During the day, more clashes between the Sunni militants and security forces occurred in north of Tikrit around a military base that previously was used by the US forces, known as Camp Speicher, which is still under the control of Iraqi troops, the police source said.

Tikrit was seized by armed militants of the Al Qaeda-inspired Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) who drove into the city and occupied the provincial government headquarters June 11.