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OFFENSIVE action to retake Tikrit will be put on hold until civilians can flee and roadside bombs can be cleared, Iraq’s interior minister announced yesterday.
In nearby Samarra, Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban said that Islamic State (Isis) militants had booby-trapped roads and buildings leading into Tikrit, forcing state forces aided by Iranian advisers, to slow their advance.
“We want to give the people of Tikrit the chance to evacuate their areas in order to save their lives, and also to try as much as possible to preserve the infrastructure of the city,” he told state TV channel al-Iraqiya.
Mr Ghabban gave no date for the advance to resume, saying that this was being “left to the field commanders.”
The offensive began on March 2 but has ground to a halt, with soldiers, police officers, Shi’ite militias and Sunni tribal fighters confined to the city’s periphery.
Operations against Salahuddin provincial capital Tikrit had been seen as a crucial step towards liberating Isis-held Mosul, the country’s second-largest city.
