As many as 2,000 hardened Islamic State militants were holed up in Saddam Hussein’s former palace and other government buildings in central Tikrit last night as pro-government troops prepared for a final push to take the city.
Iraqi army troops and Shia militiamen advanced deeper into Tikrit from the north and south yesterday, forcing the Isis fighters to retreat to the strongholds they have used as their headquarters since overrunning Saddam’s former home town nine months ago.
The pincer movement by the 30,000-strong pro-government force, which includes Iranian troops and advisers, leaves the militants with little prospect but to fight to the death, analysts said.
“There’s no escape for them,” said Sajad Jihad, an Iraqi analyst who has been closely following the battle for Tikrit, the largest offensive launched on Iraqi territory against the jihadist group.
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Iraqi officials told local media that some Isis militants were seen fleeing the city towards another stronghold, Hawija, but most appeared to be preparing to make a final stand. “The terrorists are seizing the cars of civilians and trying to make a getaway,” Brigadier Kheyon Rasheed, the provincial police chief, told Al Iraqiya television.
However, others suggested that was merely propaganda intended to dent the morale of Isis fighters elsewhere. “These are hardcore guys,” Mr Jihad said. “I don’t see them surrendering.”
Ahmed Abdullah al-Jubouri, Iraq’s minister for provincial affairs, said that Isis had laid as many as 6,000 mines in and around Tikrit, slowing the advance of pro-government forces and leaving them vulnerable to suicide bombers. There had, though, been less heavy fighting in the battle to retake Tikrit than expected, with the jihadists mostly retreating under heavy shelling.
Iraq’s government has stayed silent on casualty figures on either side. Commanders admitted that the capture of outlying areas had been slower than expected, but said they had been able to make a swift entry into the city once the town of al-Alam, to the northeast, had been seized on Tuesday.
Yesterday a separate force advanced toward Tikrit from the south, helping to box in the Isis fighters. Last night pro-government forces were consolidating their control over the northern district of Qadisiyah, seizing Tikrit General Hospital and raising the Iraqi flag.
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An Iraqi major general told the news agency AFP that government forces were battling “to cleanse the neighbourhood of Qadisiyah”. He added: “But we are engaging in a very delicate battle because we are facing booby-trapped terrain and sniper fire. Our movement is slow.”
One Iraqi official said that troops were retaking “one street every 30 minutes” in their push towards the city centre, pausing to allow army helicopters to take out Isis snipers and defusing explosive devices along the way.
As its fighters retreated in Tikrit, Isis hit back elsewhere in a show of force, launching a co-ordinated attack on government-held areas of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province.
Targeting Ramadi may also have been intended as a warning to Sunni Muslims not to side with the Shiadominated forces against them. Up to 1,000 tribesmen, including members of Saddam’s Bou Nasser tribe, have joined the offensive on Tikrit, alongside 20,000 Shia militiamen, 3,000 Iraqi army troops and up to 2,000 Iranians.
The prominence of Shias and Iranians, including Qassem Suleimani, Iran’s military spy chief, in the offensive against a Sunni stronghold has raised fears that sectarian tensions previously exploited by Isis may be further inflamed. Images of the smiling Iranian general walking alongside tanks and troops, in plain clothes and without a bulletproof vest, have been posted on social media repeatedly in recent days.
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Iranian-backed Shia militias were accused of massacring civilians in Diyala province in January after driving Isis out, and there are fears that they may seek retribution for the killing of 700 Shia soldiers after the capture of Camp Speicher outside Tikrit.
In Washington, General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the Iranian military involvement as “helpful” but said he feared sectarian reprisals. “We are all concerned about what happens when the drums stop beating and [Isis] is defeated,” he told a Senate foreign relations committee hearing.