IS attack on Iraq police trainees near Tikrit kills at least 12

Twenty policemen were wounded in the attack, which took place in the middle of the night. That densely populated urban center in the north, with triple the population of Ramadi, has served as Islamic State’s center of operations in Iraq since the militants overran it 18 months ago.

‘The security forces have entered the governmental buildings and raised the Iraqi flags over them after killing many ISIS militants and the rest have escaped, ‘ announced Brigadier General Yahya Rasool-the spokesperson for Iraq military.

Speicher is located in Salahuddin, which was one of the provinces conquered by ISIL when it swept across much of Iraq’s Sunni Arab heartland in June 2014.

Until now, Nuri says, the Sunni population of Iraq had been more afraid of the government in Baghdad than they were of ISIS.

The sprawling military base itself was never fully controlled by the jihadists but at the beginning of their offensive they committed one of the conflict’s worst atrocities there.

Ramadi’s strong tribal networks had made it easier for Iraqi forces to forge alliances and take control of key areas. In an online statement, the extremist group said its fighters reached a base where 1,200 soldiers were being trained, news agency AFP reported.

IS said the attack targeted Shiite troops stationed at the base.

Militants of the Islamic State were also able to cut off a main supply line for the Iraqi army in central Ramadi on Friday, after taking over the Artillery Brigade’s military base near the Bouathia district. The jihadist group had held the city since May.

Displaced Iraqi people, who fled the violence in the Iraqi city of Ramadi, celebrate after their city was liberated from the ISIS on December 29, 2015 at the Alkzenzanah camp in the capital Baghdad.

A CTS colonel said about 30 ISIS militants had been arrested as they tried to slip out of Ramadi. “We will establish full control over Ramadi in four to five days”, Asadi said.

He added: “The suicide attacks had been stopped and, without any command and control, the Isis fighters had retreated into another part of the city”.

“Our diplomats are working day in and day out” on Iraqi political reconciliation, the official said, “but in some ways it is even more hard….”