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Iraqi forces set to retake Tikrit

Parties hold talks to form next govt

Agencies
Iraqi forces yesterday pressed a campaign to retake militant-held Tikrit, clashing with jihadist-led Sunni militants nearby and pounding positions inside the city with air strikes in their biggest counter-offensive so far.
A senior officer said security forces was coordinating with the United States, which has deployed military advisers to help the government push back the militants, who have overrun large parts of five provinces north and west of Baghdad.
Armed US drones were flying over Baghdad to provide protection for the advisers and US diplomats against the militants, led by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
On the political front, Iraqi party leaders planned delicate talks yesterday that could end Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's divisive rule after a top Shia cleric called for a new premier to be chosen without delay to tackle Islamist rebels threatening to tear apart the country.
International agencies have raised alarm bells over the humanitarian consequences of the fighting, with up to 10,000 people having fled a northern Christian town in recent days and 1.2 million displaced by unrest in Iraq this year.
Thousands of soldiers, backed by air cover, tanks and bomb disposal units, were advancing on Tikrit --now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown - which fell to insurgents on June 11.
Witnesses said loyalists were moving toward Tikrit from the west and engaged in heavy clashes.
“A large military operation started today to clear Tikrit of ISIL,' Staff Lieutenant General Sabah Fatlawi told AFP, saying its fighters now have two choice "flee or be killed."
Earlier sources inside the city told CNN that the Iraqi security forces entered the city supported by special forces and fighters from among the local tribes, and had gained control.
He said that fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) retreated in the direction of Kirkuk
and Nineveh provinces.
Hel icopter-borne troops swooped into a strategically located university campus in the city on Thursday, with sporadic clashes reported throughout yesterday.
Taking the university is seen as an important step towards regaining control of Tikrit, one of the biggest cities held by the militants.
Iraqi forces were carrying out air strikes against insurgents inside the city, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's security spokesman said.
They were also now in full control of a key road from Baghdad to Samarra, between the capital and Tikrit, Lieutenant General Qassem Atta added.
Although they initially wilted in the face of the offensive in majority Sunni Arab areas that began on June 9, the security forces have appeared to perform more capably in recent days.
A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said "a few" armed drones were being used over Baghdad as a precaution to safeguard Americans, but they will not be used for offensive action against the militants. The Pentagon confirmed that among the manned and unmanned US aircraft flying over Iraq
to carry out surveillance, some were carrying bombs and missiles.
World leaders have insisted that a political settlement be reached among Iraq's Shia Arab, Sunni Arab and Kurdish communities to twart the militantthreat.
In a striking political intervention on Friday that could signal the demise of Maliki's eight-year tenure, influential Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani urged political blocs to agree on the next premier, parliament speaker and president before a newly elected legislature meets in Baghdad on Tuesday.
"The next 72 hours are very important to come up with an agreement..., to push the political process forward,” said a lawmaker and exgovernment official from the National Alliance, which groups all Shia Muslim parties.
The lawmaker, who asked for anonymity due to political sensitivities, said he expected internal meetings of the various parties and a broader session of the National Alliance including Maliki's State of Law list to be held through the weekend. Some Sunni Muslim parties were to convene later on Saturday.
Sistani's entry into the fray will make it hard for Maliki to stay on as
caretaker leader as he has since a parliamentary election in April. That means he must either build a coalition to confirm himself in power for a third term or step aside.
Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov yesterday said in Damascus that "Russia will not remain passive to the attempts by some groups to spread terrorism in the region."
"The situation is very dangerous in Iraq and the foundations of the Iraqi state are under threat," he said.
Iraq has appealed for US air strikes against the militants, but Washington has offered only up to 300 military advisers.
US official have said a proposed $500 million plan to arm and train moderate rebels in neighbouring Syria could also help Iraq’sfight againstlSIL, which operates on both sides of the border.
Maliki's security spokesman has said hundreds of soldiers have been killed since the offensive began on June 9, while the UN puts the overall death toll at nearly 1,100.
The International Organisation for Migration warned that aid workers could not reach tens of thousands of Iraqis displaced by the violence, and called for humanitarian