Iraqi troops continue to attack the ISIS-held city of Tikrit, and while they have made some claims of success in the surrounding area, the city itself has withstood a solid week of strikes without much success.
Still, Iraqi state media broadcast new images of the battle of Tikrit, showing that the nation is using its newly-acquired Soviet Su-25s, bought from Russia, and reporting that Iraqi pilots were flying them in the raids on Tikrit.
The army did have some success outside of Tikrit, however, reporting that backed by helicopter gunships they have retaken Awja, a small village that is the hometown of Saddam Hussein.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki claimed Awja has been “totally cleansed” of rebels, killing 30, though local police claimed only three rebels were killed in the fighting over the relatively strategically inconsequential village.