BAGHDAD: Iraqi military forces and Shitte militias entered central Tikrit, declaring it “liberated” from the Islamic State on Tuesday, following 10 days of a major offensive on the hometown of former president Saddam Hussein.

Marwan Al-Jabara, a tribal spokesman in the Salaheddin province, told Al Arabiya News Channel that the forces managed to reach the center of Tikrit after heavy clashes in which “dozens of IS militants were killed.”

An unmanned Iraqi major general told AFP earlier: “We are now doing combat missions to cleanse the neighborhood of Qadisiyah.”

Al Arabiya reported on Tuesday that Iraqi forces took control of Tikrit military hospital, which is close the center of the city, a report confirmed by the major general who spoke to AFP.

“But we are engaging in a very delicate battle because we are not facing fighters on the ground, we are facing booby-trapped terrain and sniper fire. Our movement is slow,” the senior officer said.

The officer also said the forces that entered Qadisiyah on Wednesday morning included army and police, as well as members of the large volunteer force called Popular Mobilization units.

Allied Iraqi forces entered the city through its northern Qadisiyya neighborhood, where authorities quickly established a supply line to reinforce troops, Salaheddin police Brig. Kheyon Rasheed told the state-run Iraqiyya television.

“The terrorists are seizing the cars of civilians trying to leave the city and they are trying to make a getaway,” Rasheed said. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the troops and militiamen faced any resistance.

A video obtained by The Associated Press showed troops and militiamen marching alongside Humvees flying Iraqi military and Shiite militia flags in the northern neighborhood, the skyline of central Tikrit towering ahead of them.