Iraq forces launch airborne assault on Tikrit: Officials

Kirkuk: Iraqi security forces launched an airborne assault Thursday on the militant-held city of Tikrit, seizing control of its strategically located university, officials said.

The dozens of security forces members flew in by helicopter and clashed with the militants before seizing the university, in an operation aimed at opening the way for the city to be retaken.

Militants led by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) seized Tikrit -- the hometown of executed dictator Saddam Hussein -- on June 11.