Hadi al-Amiri commander of Iraq's powerful Shiite militias(Badr Organization) criticized the lack of arms supply from the US on Friday, saying “Those who went to the US and kissed its hands didn't get anything from the Americans, to whom we give our money to get arms. I'd like to give you an example (addressing his militiamen). They don't give us ammunition for the Abrams tank. Why? Because the Americans said they saw the tank marching along with al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization of Shiite militiamen). This is a frank interference in Iraq's sovereignty. So I call upon the Iraqi government to keep and protect Iraq's sovereignty. We don't want weapons from America. The sovereignty of Iraq is more important than weapons. We can bring weapons (into Iraq) from any country in the world".

Hadi al-Amiri made the comments during a battlefield interview near Tikrit, where Iraqi forces are fighting to retake Saddam Hussein's hometown from the militants of the ISIS group.

Shiite militias have played a crucial role in regaining territory from the Sunni extremists of the ISIS group, supporting Iraq's embattled military and police forces.

Iraqi forces entered Tikrit for the first time on Wednesday from the north and south. On Friday, they waged fierce battles to secure the northern neighborhood of Qadisiyya and lobbed mortar shells and rockets into the city Centre, still in the hands of ISIS militants.

“We defy the Americans to liberate Nineveh province (Mosul), I do defy them. I say to them (US), The liberation of Mosul will be done only at the hands of Iraqi armed forces, al-Hashd al-Shaabi (popular mobilisation of Shiite militiamen), federal police and sons of Mosul,” Shiite commander Hadi al-Amiri said.

Iraqi military officials have said they expect to reach central Tikrit in two to three days.