Al Jazeera TV reported on the evening of Tuesday Maliki’s forces entered the village of al-Uja south of Tikrit, however, after attacks by armed tribes and suffering heavy damages they were not able to reach their objectives and retreated from the area.
Al Jazeera added this was while Qasem Ata, spokesman of the Iraqi Army said, “These forces carried out a fast attack against the city of Tikrit and retreated after cleansing a number of areas.” Ata did not refer to damages inflicted to Maliki forces and the reason why this withdrawal took place.
Al Jazeera said Tikrit is located 160 kilometers from Baghdad and it has been a month since this city has been under the control of armed men and to this day they have resisted raids and military attacks by Maliki forces.
Al Jazeera added armed tribes are in control of large portions of the Iraqi landscape.