article_snippet: Fighting intensified to the north and south of Saddam Husseinhometown yesterday as Iraqi security forces vowed to reach the centre of Tikrit within 48 hours.
article_snippet: ISIS has controlled Tikrit since June, when ISIS waged ISIS lightning offensive that also saw Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, come under Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul control.
article_snippet: Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul was helped in Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul conquest of northern Iraq by Saddam loyalists, including military veterans, who appealed to Sunnis who felt victimized by Baghdad's newly Shiite-dominated government.
article_snippet: Recapturing Tikrit, a Sunni bastion on the Tigris River, would pave the way for an assault on Mosul, which U.S. officials have said could come as soon as next month.
article_snippet: Concerns are mounting that Iraq's Shiite militias, of which an estimated 20,000 are fighting in Tikrit, will carry out revenge attacks on this and other areas that are home to predominantly Sunni residents.
article_snippet: Local Sunni tribal fighters have formed uneasy alliances with the Iraqi army and Shiite militias in the battle for Tikrit, which Iraqi and U.S. officials believe is essential for defeating the Sunni militant group.