Tikrit pushback: Amidst fresh clashes ISIL down army chopper

Russia delivers five Sukhoi jets for Iraqi military.

BAGHDAD:

Insurgents brought down an army helicopter in Tikrit on Sunday as the military sent in tanks to try to dislodge them on the second day of a major pushback against a militant takeover of Iraq. The offensive comes at a time when five Russian Sukhoi jets have been delivered to Baghdad to aid in a crisis that rival the country’s brutal sectarian war.

Government planes pounded Tikrit and clashes raged across the city as thousands of troops advanced in Iraq’s most ambitious operation since insurgents led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) overran swathes of five provinces this month.

In another incident, fighters backed by the Kurdish peshmerga force advanced on the village of Basheer which was taken over by militants during the offensive, officials said.

Troops backed by helicopter gunships began the assault on Tikrit, the birthplace of former President Saddam Hussein, on Saturday, to try to take it back from insurgents who have swept to within driving range of Baghdad.

Two witnesses said they saw a military helicopter gunned down and crash near a market.

Iraqi army spokesman Qassim Atta told reporters in Baghdad that security forces had killed 142 militants over the last 24 hours across Iraq, including 70 in Tikrit.

Parliament under pressure

Politicians are under pressure to speed up the normally sluggish process of selecting a new government to face the crisis. A parliament elected in April will begin the process on Tuesday.

According to the United Nations mission in Iraq, all representatives have been urged to attend the session on Tuesday and select a new government.

“Faced with a national crisis, the political leaders of Iraq should put the interests of the country and its people before everything else,” Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq Nickolay Mladenov said.

The 21-seat bloc of former prime minister Iyad Allawi announced it would not attend the session. The bloc said more time was needed to avoid the mistakes of the last government. However, politicians from the National Alliance, parliament’s biggest bloc, said they were committed to attend the session and follow the legal timetable for the formation.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2014.