Iraqi security forces today launched a major military operation to re-take Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit from Islamic State militants, state TV said.
The operation was backed by Shiite and Sunni fighters and represents a major step in a campaign to reclaim a large swathe of territory in northern Iraq from the IS terrorist group.
Tikrit, around 95 miles north of Baghdad, was seized by IS militants last summer along with Iraq's second largest city of Mosul.
It is one of the largest cities held by IS and is in the country's Sunni heartland.
The new allied offensive comes after soldiers, backed by air strikes from a US-led coalition, recently took back the nearby refinery town of Beiji.
Any operation to take Mosul would likely require Iraq to seize Tikrit first because of its strategic location for military enforcements.
Al-Iraqiya television said that the forces were attacking Tikrit from different directions, backed by artillery and airstrikes by Iraqi fighter jets. It said the militants were dislodged from some areas outside the city, but gave no details.
Iraq is bitterly divided between minority Sunnis, who were an important base of support for Saddam, and the Shiite majority.
The co-operation between Shiite and Sunni fighters in today's operation was an important development in the battle against IS - though the presence of Shiite forces in the Sunni area risks prompting a backlash in the future.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, a Shiite, called on Sunni tribal fighters to abandon the extremist group, offering what he described as "the last chance" and promising them a pardon.
"I call upon those who have been misled or committed a mistake to lay down arms and join their people and security forces in order to liberate their cities," Mr al-Abadi said on Sunday during a news conference in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.
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He offered what he called "the last chance" for Sunni tribal fighters, promising them a pardon. "The city will soon return to its people," he added.
His comments appeared to be targeting former members of Iraq's outlawed Baath party, loyalists to Saddam, who joined the Islamic State group during its offensive, as well as other Sunnis who were dissatisfied with Baghdad's Shiite-led government.
Saddam, the country's longtime ruler, was ousted in 2003 and later executed. Tikrit frequently saw attacks on US forces during the American occupation of the country.
