Rebels repel Iraqi attempt to retake Tikrit

Residents said there was no fighting in the city
on Wednesday morning , four days after Iraqi
army assault began .
Iraqi forces have withdrawn from the rebel - held
northern Iraqi city of Tikrit after a new push to
retake the city met heavy resistance , soldiers
involved in the operation said .
Government troops and allied Shia volunteer
fighters were forced to retreat just before
sunset on Tuesday to a base 4km south after
coming under heavy mortar shelling and sniper
fire , the sources said.
The attempt to retake Tikrit, which fell to
Sunni fighters led by the Islamic State group on
June 12 , began two-and- a -half weeks ago.
The failure highlights the difficulties of
Baghdad' s struggle to recapture territory from
the fighters , who seized Mosul , Tikrit and other
cities last month in a rapid offensive , the
Reuters news agency reported .
Residents said there was no fighting on
Wednesday morning in Tikrit, which lies 160km
north of Baghdad.
It is a stronghold of ex- army officers and
loyalists of executed former leader Saddam
Hussein 's Baath Party who allied themselves
with the Islamic State-led offensive last month .
The Iraqi military had attacked from the village
of Awja, some 8km south of the city, and the
initial fighting on Tuesday occurred in the
southern part of the city. The army retook
Awja , the birthplace of Saddam , on July 3 .
There was no word on casualties on either side
after the assault on Tikrit, but social media
accounts affiliated with the Islamic State group
posted pictures appearing to show some the
fighters who had died in the battle.
The social media accounts also claimed to
have downed an Iraqi army helicopter , but that
claim could not be verified .