Tri-Service

Iraqi Prime Minister: Islamic State Driven Out of Central Tikrit

Islamic State forces have been driven out of the centre of the Iraqi city of Tikrit, according to the country's Prime Minister.

Haider al-Abadi added however that the month-long fight between his nation's troops, aided by Shi'ite paramilitaries, to retake the rest of the city from IS is ongoing. Mr Abadi said in a statement:

"Our security forces have reached the centre of Tikrit and they have liberated the southern and western sides and they are moving towards the control of the whole city."

News agency Reuters reports that hundreds of insurgents ready to fight to the death are still holed up in Saddam Hussein's home town, with at least three neighborhoods still under Islamic State control along with a palace complex in the city's north.

Security forces and paramilitary fighters, meanwhile, are said to have retaken the governor's headquarters in their push from southern Tikrit along with the main hospital that had been occupied by the extremist group.

Cover Photo Crown Copyright/ CPL Anthony Stinson RAF/ 2009