(31 Mar 2015) Iraqi military commanders said on Monday they had retaken a hospital in southern Tikrit as they progress towards the centre of the city.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief journalists, said the military's three-pronged offensive is making slow progress as it attempts to take the city because of booby traps and suicide bomb attacks.
Iraqi troops were seen fighting in the area around Tikrit General Hospital on Monday, where they believed Islamic State militants who control the city were sheltering.
The soldiers were fighting without assistance from the country's Iran-backed Shiite militias, who have been instrumental to the operation so far.
The militias backed out in protest over US involvement in the fight for Tikrit.
Last Wednesday, the US began airstrikes in Saddam Hussein's hometown in support of what it called a "stalled" Iraqi ground offensive to retake the city, after it insisted that Iranian-backed militia pull back.
The battle for Tikrit is seen as a key step towards eventually driving the Islamic State group from Iraq's second largest city Mosul, which is further north.
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