AL ALAM, IRAQ // Iraqi troops and militias drove ISIL militants out of the town of Al Alam on Tuesday, clearing the way for an offensive to retake the nearby city of Tikrit from the radical group.
Dozens of families, who had earlier fled Al Alam to escape ISIL control, returned to the town celebrating and slaughtering sheep for the victorious fighters.
“I announce officially that the town is under the total control of security forces,” said local mayor Laith Al Jubouri.
“We rejoice in this victory and we want Al Alam to be the launchpad for the liberation of Tikrit and Mosul,” he said.
The assault on Tikrit could start as early as Wednesday, security officials said. The 10-day campaign has so far been marked by gradual and steady advances rather than rapid attacks.
Tikrit, the home city of executed former president Saddam Hussein, is the focus of an offensive by the army and Shiite militias known as Hashid Shaabi, backed by local Sunni forces.
The army and militias now control the two towns to the north and south of Tikrit along the Tigris river valley and appear ready to move on the city itself.
There have been fears that the Shiite-dominated security forces and militia would seek revenge on local Sunni residents for killings carried out under the ISIL control of the area. In the nearby village of Albu Ajil, local officials said houses had been set on fire by the militia, but there was no sign of revenge attacks in Al Alam.
Also on Tuesday, the militant group reportedly beheaded three men in northern Iraq – two of them for allegedly engaging in homosexual acts and the third for blasphemy.
A series of photographs on social media showed the blindfolded men kneeling in the centre of what appears to be a traffic circle with a crowd looking on as a masked, black-clad executioner stood by with a long, rusty blade.
Accompanying captions said the trio were executed.
The photos were said to have been taken in Nineveh province but the exact location was not specified.
In northern Syria, about 95 captives escaped from an ISIL-run prison but most were recaptured, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Tuesday.
The jailbreak took place in the town of Al Bab, 30 km south of the Turkish frontier.
The escapees included Syrian civilians, Kurdish fighters and members of battalions opposed to the hardline ISIL, the Observatory said.
ISIL put the town on high alert and used loudspeakers to tell citizens to capture the escapees, the Observatory said. About two thirds have since been caught.
Meanwhile, the US-led coalition forces conducted eight airstrikes against ISIL fighters in Iraq during a 24-hour period, while US forces led four airstrikes in Syria, the US military said on Tuesday.
* Reuters