ISIS takeover Samarra-Tikrit highway

ISIS militants on Monday took over the highway connecting the Iraqi cities of Samarra and Tikrit, Arabi 21 has reported.

The head of the People’s Militia in Salahuddin Governorate, Brigadier Hussein Mohamed, announced that ISIS had taken over the highway based on Kurdish sources.

“ISIS militants benefited from the bad weather and used riverboats to launch a wide attack against the area near Dijla River,” Mohamed said, noting that the militants took over Al-Zalaya village in addition to the highway following clashes with the Iraqi army and the People’s Militia.

He said that the clashes resulted in deaths and injuries on both sides.

In the same context, a security source revealed that 23 members of the People’s Militia were killed in the clashes with ISIS.

Salahuddin Governorate, 200km to the north of Baghdad, has borne witness to a number of military clashes between Iraqi forces and the People’s Militia on one side and ISIS militants on the other. ISIS recently took over several cities and villages in the governorate, the most important of which being Tikrit.