Kurdish fighters seize full control of IS border stronghold

On Tuesday, Iraqi officials said that families began returning to Tikrit two and a half months after security forces backed by Shiite militias drove the Islamic State group out of the Sunni city.

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Turkish soldier on an armoured personnel carrier in Akcakale, southeastern Turkey, watches as in the background a flag of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, is raised over the city of Tal Abyad, Syria, Tuesday, June 16, 2015.(Source: AP)

The Islamic State group still holds about a third of Iraq and Syria, including Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul. IS fighters continue to battle Iraqi security forces and Shiite militiamen for territory north and east of the capital, Baghdad.

On Tuesday, Iraqi officials said that families began returning to Tikrit two and a half months after security forces backed by Shiite militias drove the Islamic State group out of the Sunni city.

Gov. Raed al-Jabouri of Salahuddin province told the AP in a phone interview that around 200 families, who spent the past months either in makeshift tent camps or half-built and abandoned buildings outside the city, had returned the day before.

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Al-Jabouri said more than 1,000 families are expected to return on Thursday.

Deputy governor Ammar Hikmat said public services inside the city are still shabby due to military operations and that authorities are working to restore them.

Hikmat added that the main challenge was electricity as the national grid offers less than 10 hours a day of power, while many of the generator plants outside the city are not working. He said drinking water was available for about 80 percent for the city.

Both al-Jabouri and Hikmat said work was still underway to compensate those who have had their properties damaged.

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State television aired footage of security forces guarding buses packed with people, some waving Iraqi flags. Some residents could be seen embracing security forces when they reached Tikrit, while others fired rifles into the air in celebration.

The IS group captured Tikrit last summer during its sweep across the country. Iraqi forces managed to retake it following weeks of intense fighting and U.S.-led airstrikes, marking their biggest gain yet against the extremist group in Iraq.

According to Iraq’s Migration and Displaced Ministry, around 400,000 people fled the province of Salahuddin, where Tikrit is the capital, since its capture in June 2014. Some families have trickled back to liberated areas outside Tikrit, but this the first time they are returning to the provincial capital.

After retaking Tikrit in April, officials said it would take time for people to return because bombs needed to be cleared, police stations opened and services restored.

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