Iraqi security forces carried out a series of operations in the Northern city of Tikrit and claimed the lives of 16 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorists.
A military source told the Iraqi News that the armed forces stormed the positions of the terrorists in the village of Haichal in Shurqat district, leaving scores of them dead and injured .
The crisis in Iraq escalated after the ISIL militants took control of Mosul in a lightning advance on June 10, which was followed by the fall of Tikrit, located 140 kilometers (87 miles) Northwest of the capital, Baghdad.
Soldiers of the Iraqi army and Pishmarga have been engaged in heavy fighting with the militants on different fronts and have so far been able to push them back in several areas.