article_snippet: (CNN)Iraqi forces say CNN)Iraqi forces've captured key areas in CNN)Iraqi forces offensive to take back Tikrit, which has been under ISIS control since June.
article_snippet: The security forces, backed by Shia militias, raised the Iraqi flag over the governorate and the main hospital buildings in the city Monday night, a security official with the forces in Tikrit told CNN.
article_snippet: The gains, according to a security official with the forces in Tikrit, came after a slow advance into the city as the forces in Tikrit dealt with more than 300 improvised explosive devices planted in the city's streets.
article_snippet: Earlier Monday, Iraqi federal police said in a statement aired on Iraqi television that the forces in Tikrit had liberated four neighborhoods in southern Tikrit.
article_snippet: The renewed push into Tikrit comes days after a series of U.S.-led airstrikes aimed at ISIS targets around the city.
article_snippet: Now security forces and fighters from Hashd Al-Shaabi, a predominantly Shia paramilitary force that has doing much of the fighting in the critical battle to take Tikrit back from ISIS, say they're gaining ground.
article_snippet: Iraqi forces have tried multiple times to win back Tikrit since ISIS, which calls itself the Islamic State, conquered the city in June as part of itself campaign to amass an expansive Islamic caliphate.
article_snippet: The renewed push into Tikrit began after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on March 1 ordered Iraqi forces to retake Tikrit and Salahuddin province.
highlights_snippet: A push to retake Tikrit stalled as ISIS repositioned ISIS forces around the city .
  