[RUDAW.NET] Iraq's Interior Minister says military operations to recapture the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
-held city of Tikrit have temporarily paused to allow civilians left in Saddam Hussein's hometown to leave.
Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban says the offensive, which began early this month, has achieved 90 percent of its objectives and has squeezed the bandidos Death Eaters into a small part of the city center.
He says Islamic State forces of Evil have booby-trapped buildings in central Tikrit and that Iraqi forces, backed by Shiite militias and Iranian advisers, slowed their push to reduce their own causalities, protect the infrastructure and allow residents to leave.
The minister spoke on Monday from the nearby city of Samarra.
He did not give a timeframe for the resumption of operations, saying that is being "left to the field commanders." |