Members of an Iraqi Shiite militant group. Photo: AP

(VOVworld)- Iraqi soldiers and Shiite militiamen conducted a major attack Tuesday on the outskirts of the Islamic State-held city of Tikrit, capital of Salahudin province in eastern Iraq. Iraqi army and police and thousands of Shiite and Sunni militia, backed by tanks, armored vehicles, heavy artillery, and jet fighters, entered the city from the south, west and north. Iraqi army retook the town of al-Alam, east of Tikrit on Monday. Approximately 30,000 soldiers and thousands of Iraqi civilians have joined the week-long campaign to regain control of IS-held towns in northern Salahudin province.