Dubai: Tikrit, the hometown and last stronghold of Saddam Hussein crumbled with
little resistance to the American forces, who rallied with the local police and
officials to control looting and lawlessness in other "liberated" Iraqi cities on
April 14.
US tanks backed by helicopters and war-planes took control of Tikrit and a
Presidential palace after "patchy" resistance by Saddam's supporters in which 20
Iraqi soldiers were reported killed.
The Iraqi Army has been destroyed and "there is no regime command and control",
General Tommy Franks, Commander in Chief of the US Central Command told CNN in
Qatar. He, however, said there were still "pockets" of paramilitary and foreign
fighters across the oil-rich devastated nation.
South of Tikrit, the Americans achieved a major breakthrough as they stormed a
hideout in Samarra and rescued seven compatriots taken captive by the Iraqis. They
were flown to Kuwait and three of them were being treated for injuries, reports said.
Five days after the collapse of Saddam's regime after the fall of Baghdad, Iraqi
policemen in their olive green uniforms and black berets, started patrolling the
streets of the city with US forces in separate vehicles.
Hundreds of members of the Iraqi police and public service workers have responded to
an American call to help restore order in the capital.
PTI
