BAGHDAD: The Iraqi army retook Saddam Hussein’s home town overnight, a symbolic victory in its struggle to seize back swathes of the country from extremist insurgents.
Backed by helicopter gunships and helped by civilian volunteers, the army recaptured the village of Awja in an hour-long battle on Thursday night, according reports.
Awja lies 8 km south of Tikrit, a city that remains in rebel hands since Islamic State, formerly the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), launched a lightning assault across northern Iraq last month.
The offensive to retake Tikrit began on June 28, but the army has still failed to retake the city which fell after the police and army imploded last month in the face of the militant onslaught that also captured Mosul.
The military spokesman said Awja had been “totally cleansed” and 30 militants killed, according to state television.
The birthplace of Saddam, Awja benefited hugely from the largesse of the dictator before his ousting by the U.S. invasion of 2003 and locals remained fiercely loyal to the man who would select his relatives from the area for top posts.
Spokesman Qassim Atta said security forces had seized control of several government buildings, including a water treatment plant.
The army said it now held the 50-km stretch of highway running north from the city of Samarra – which is 100 km north of Baghdad – to Awja.
But the government forces and army convoys continue to come under guerrilla attack along it.
In the town of Hawija, site of infighting last month between Islamist fighters and Sunni militia forces, members of local Sunni tribes told Reuters that community members had organised to fight against the militants in control of the town.
Members of the Al-Obaidi tribe were angered over the militants’ seizure of homes of local sheikhs and officials and had formed an armed group that killed five insurgents on patrol in the town on Friday, residents said.
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