Tikrit fell on 11 June to rebels of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis).

The BBC’s Jim Muir, who is in northern Iraq, says that since then, the government has been threatening a counter-offensive from the next town down the Tigris river – Samarra – where the insurgents were finally checked.

State TV said preparations were now being made to move north towards Mosul.

The Iraqi soldiers are being supported in the offensive by allied Sunni tribesmen and Shia militias.