Iraqi army reclaims Hussein’s village
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THE Iraqi army retook Saddam Hussein’s home village on Thursday night, a symbolic and tactical victory in its push against Sunni insurgents.
Backed by helicopter gunships and helped by Shiite Muslim volunteers, the army recaptured Awja in an hourlong battle, state media reported.
Awja is 8 kilometers south of Tikrit, a city that remains in rebel hands since Islamic State, formerly the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, launched a lightning assault across northern Iraq last month.
The military spokesman of embattled Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Awja had been “totally cleansed” and 30 militants killed, state TV said.
A police source told Reuters three insurgents were killed.
The birthplace of Saddam, Awja benefited hugely from the largesse of the Sunni dictator before his ousting by the United States invasion of 2003 and locals remained loyal to the man who selected his relatives from the area for top posts.
Spokesman Qassim Atta said security forces had seized control of several government buildings, but security sources and residents said militants were still holding Iraqi forces from entering Tikrit.
Meanwhile, 46 Indian nurses abducted by suspected Islamist militants in Iraq have been released and will fly home today, Indian officials said.
The nurses, from the southern state of Kerala, had been stranded in a hospital in Tikrit for weeks, India’s foreign ministry said.
They were being moved from the northern city of Mosul to Erbil, about 80km away.
“They are all safe but they want to come back at the earliest,” Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said.
In addition to the nurses, 40 Indian construction workers are still in captivity in Iraq.
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