Iraqi fighters sit waiting as they take part in a military operation to take control of Tikrit from Islamic State group, on March 11. (Agence France-Presse)
Iraqi commanders said today that time was on their side as government forces tighten their siege of Tikrit and warned they would not be rushed into a final assault.
Since the operation to retake Tikrit from the Islamic State group was launched at the start of the month, thousands of troops and militia have reconquered the land around the city.
On Wednesday, they moved deep into Tikrit's sprawling northern district of Qadisiyah and closed in on the few hundred jihadist fighters holed up in the city centre.
But Police Staff Major General Bahaa al-Azzawi said that despite their superior numbers and firepower, government forces would refrain from advancing too fast to avoid unnecessary losses.
"We don't want to be rushed because we want to avoid casualties," he told AFP in Albu Ajil, a village from which Tikrit can be seen across the Tigris river. "Tikrit is sealed off from all sides."
Hadi al-Ameri, the commander of the volunteer Popular Mobilisation units, told reporters on the front lines late on Wednesday that there was no way out for the IS fighters trapped in Tikrit.
"They have two choices, surrender or death," said Ameri, whose Badr organisation is one of the largest Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq and controls the interior ministry.
"We do not need to attack. That could lead to victims in the ranks of the fighters," he said.
An AFP correspondent in Albu Ajil reported sporadic shelling of Tikrit by government forces today.
None of the Iraqi fighting forces involved in the battle have provided casualty figures since the start of the operation to wrest back Tikrit, the largest since IS captured the city nine months ago.
Dozens of bodies are being driven down to Baghdad and the Shiite holy city of Najaf almost every day, however, and, while government forces have had the upper hand, IS has done damage with suicide car bombs, booby traps and snipers.