Iraqi forces press Tikrit offensive

Iraqi government forces and allied militiamen pressed an all-out assault in the city of Tikrit on Thursday, one day after troops fought their way into the militant stronghold.

The offensive, which began last week and is said to involve as many as 30,000 fighters, is the government’s largest offensive to date against Islamic State, the Sunni Muslim extremist group that swept through much of Iraq’s Sunni heartland in northern and western Iraq last year.

Pro-government accounts Thursday suggested that much of Tikrit was under the control of security forces, though there was no independent corroboration of the reported advances in Tikrit.

Los Angeles Times