Iraq forces fight for militant-held Tikrit

BAGHDAD, June 27 (agencies): Iraqi forces fought for a strategically located university campus outside Tikrit Friday and bombarded the city in an effort to retake it from Sunni Arab insurgents.
The military operation came after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki conceded that political measures will also be needed to defeat the jihadist-led offensive that has killed nearly 1,100 people overrun major parts of five provinces.
In further fallout from the crisis, the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region declared there was no going back on Kurdish self-rule in disputed territory, including ethnically divided northern oil city Kirkuk, now defended against the militants by Kurdish fighters.
Iraqi forces swooped into Tikrit University by helicopter on Thursday, and a police major said that there were periodic clashes between insurgents and security forces on the campus on Friday.
A senior army officer said that Iraqi forces were carrying out a major wave of air strikes against militants in Tikrit to protect the forces at the university and prepare for an assault on the city.
Iraqi troops are deployed in areas around the city for the assault, the officer said.
Another senior officer said taking the university is an important step in regaining control of Tikrit, the hometown of executed dictator Saddam Hussein, which was seized by Sunni Arab militants on June 11.
Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani said Baghdad could no longer object to Kurdish self-rule in Kirkuk and other towns from which federal forces pulled out in the face of the insurgent advance.