According to reports on Sunday, at least 18 insurgents belonging to the so-called ISIL were killed and five vehicles destroyed after the attack on Tal Afar was repelled.

Militants from the al-Qaeda-linked group also fired mortar shells on different parts of Tal Afar, killing at least 10 civilians and injuring dozens of others.

According to local officials, some 8000 tribal fighters have joined the fight against the Takfiri militants in Nineveh.

"Youths from the tribes are doing joint patrols with Iraqi security forces inside and outside the city of Tal Afar to counter any possible attack from ISIL," Turkey's Anadolu Agency quoted an unnamed tribal source as saying.

Meanwhile, an Iraqi government spokesman said that nearly 300 terrorists have been killed in clashes with Iraqi forces over the past 24 hours.

Army forces are now pushing the militants back from the areas they had captured.

On June 10, the ISIL militants took control of Mosul, which was followed by the fall of Tikrit, located 140 kilometers (87 miles) northwest of the capital, Baghdad. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced out of their homes since then.

The ISIL militants have vowed to continue their raid toward the capital Baghdad, but Iraqi forces and around 1.5 million volunteers succeeded in halting the terrorists’ advance and starting attack on the militants.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has blamed Saudi Arabia and Qatar for the security crisis and growing terrorism in his country, denouncing the Al Saud regime as a major supporter of global terrorism.

NTJ/MB