Salaheddin

Suicide attackers from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group killed at least 12 Iraqi forces Jan. 3 in a brazen attack on police training at a military base, officials said.

A commando of fighters equipped with rifles and suicide vests snuck into Speicher base, near the city of Tikrit, in the middle of the night.

Iraqi forces closed in on Ramadi May 26 and launched an operation aimed at cutting off the jihadists in Anbar province before a major offensive to retake the city.

Amnesty International said on April 2 it was investigating reports of serious human rights violations committed by Iraqi government and allied forces in the operation to retake the city of Tikrit.

Washington is providing reconnaissance support for Iraqi forces fighting to retake Tikrit from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an official said March 24, the first confirmation of American involvement in the operation.
      

Iraq's huge offensive to retake Tikrit from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is being stalled by bombs planted by the jihadists holding out in the city, a militia spokesman said Tuesday.
      

Thousands of Iraqi forces have laid siege to jihadists holed up in Tikrit but the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) shrugged off setbacks by welcoming Nigeria's Boko Haram group into its "caliphate".
      
After making major gains in and around the city Wednesday, commanders were confident that Baghdad's biggest victory yet against ISIL was only a matter of time.

Iraqi forces closed in on Tikrit on March 3, their progress slowed by jihadist snipers and booby traps, on the second day of Baghdad's largest operation yet against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
      
The government has mobilised a 30,000-strong force for the push to retake Tikrit made up of Shiite militiamen and Sunni tribesmen as well as troops and police.

Some 30,000 Iraqi troops and militia backed by aircraft pounded jihadists in and around Tikrit in the biggest offensive yet to retake one of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)'s main strongholds.
      

A top US envoy said Iraqi troops would begin a major ground offensive against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the coming weeks, as a suicide bomber killed 14 people in Baghdad Feb. 9.

Iraqi forces backed by Sunni tribes advanced into the town of Dhuluiyah north of Baghdad on Dec. 28 in a new attempt to push out Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), officials said.

In October, Iraqi forces retook most of Dhuluiyah from ISIL, but the jihadists later launched a counter-offensive and were able to seize ground they had lost.