In Salahudin province, the security forces backed by Iraqi aircraft continued their battles to free the ISIS-held provincial capital city of Tikrit and made advance in the southern and western districts of Shishin and Dyoum after overnight clashes with the extremist militants.

Sporadic clashes and heavy bombardment on ISIS positions continued on the other edges of the city, located some 170 km north of Baghdad, Xinhua cited a provincial security source as saying.

A statement from the defence ministry said that the troops killed 26 ISIS militants in the clashes and destroyed a heavy machine gun on the roof of a building, in addition to blowing up a car bomb.

In Anbar province, airstrike hit a vehicle said to be booby-trapped with ISIS militants inside in al-Houze area in the provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, destroying the vehicle and killing its occupants, a provincial security source said.

Separately, Iraqi helicopter gunships pounded a weapon warehouse in the militant-seized city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, leaving four militants killed and sparking huge explosions in the warehouse.