OFFENSE

Iraq Launches Plan to Take Back Tikrit

Militants have executed at least 160 people there.

Iraq mounted a fresh assault against Sunni militants in the captured city of Tikrit on Saturday, where a human rights group says militants executed at least 160 people two weeks ago. The mission included an airlift of forces by helicopter and gunships carrying out airstrikes on a university campus. According to Iraqi state television, the mission succeeded in clearing the city of militants, though a security official told the Associated Press on Saturday morning that the operation is ongoing and a tribal leader from Tikrit said that Iraqi forces only controlled the university and an airfield, but that most of the town remains in the hands of ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria).