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Iraqi security forces on Thursday struggled to drive back Sunni militants in several provinces across the country, as the government denied withdrawal of security forces from the Iraqi-Saudi border line, a security source said.
In Salahudin province, security forces backed by air power continued fierce clashes with militant groups, including those who are linked to the Islamic State (IS), an al-Qaida offshoot, in an attempt to retake the provincial capital city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, Lieutenant General Qassim Atta and security spokesman for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said at a news conference in Baghdad.
The troops are pushing to clear al-Uwinat area, about 20 km south of Tikrit, and managed to defuse 52 roadside bombs and a booby-trapped car during their advance, Atta said, adding that fierce clashes with the militant groups also resulted in the killing of four gunmen and an IS group leader.
In an another route for the security forces toward Tikrit, Atta said that the troops are trying to seize the town of al-Aujah, some 15 km south of Tikrit, and managed to take control water facility and the municipality despite the fierce resistance.
In addition, the troops also cleared the road linked between a military base in north of Tikrit, which previously was used by the U.S. forces, known as Camp Speicher, and the previously seized foothold in the compound of Tikrit University, Atta said.
In Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, the security forces backed by aircraft and Shiite militiamen seized six villages in Shirween area, some 110 km northeast of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, after clashes with Sunni militants, leaving 18 gunmen dead, he said.
The troops also blew up five booby-trapped houses in the area and seized large amount of explosives and ammunition.
In Anbar province, an army force bombed a vehicle carrying militants in the provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, killing undetermined number of the militants, while a total of seven gunmen were killed in separate clashes across the province, according to Atta.
Meanwhile, the spokesman denied that the security forces withdrew from their posts on the border line with the Saudi Arabia, saying that some media reports are false.
"This is false news, the troops are fully gripping the border areas with Saudi Arabia, and such reports by some media are not true, they only aimed at affecting the morale of our people and our heroic fighters," Atta told reporters.
Iraq has been witnessing its worst security conditions that began more than two weeks ago when armed Sunni insurgents, spearheaded by ISIL(the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant), which changed its name into IS, launched a surprise offensive that led to the debacle of Iraqi security forces, and the fallen of a large part of the country's northern and western territories.
