Baghdad, June 28
Iraqi troops backed by helicopter gunships launched an operation today aimed at dislodging Sunni militants from the northern city of Tikrit, one of two major urban centers they seized in recent weeks in a dramatic blitz across the country.

After watching much of Iraq slip out of government hands, military officials sought to portray the push that began before dawn as a significant step that puts the army back on the offensive.

They said the operation includes commandos, tanks and helicopters, as well as pro-government Sunni fighters and Shiite volunteers. Tikrit residents reported clashes in the city, but the extent of the fighting was unclear.

Jawad al-Bolani, a security official in the Salahuddin Operation Command, said the immediate objective is Tikrit, the hometown of former dictator Saddam Hussein and one of two major cities to fall in recent weeks to the al-Qaeda breakaway Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and allied Sunni militants. He said there was no concrete timeline for the operation to conclude.

Helicopter gunships conducted airstrikes before dawn on insurgents who were attacking troops at a university campus on Tikrit’s northern outskirts, military spokesman Lt Gen Qassim al-Moussawi said. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Iraqi troops established a bridgehead on the sprawling campus yesterday after being ferried in by helicopter.

A Tikrit resident confirmed that air raids took place at the University of Tikrit around dawn. He reported clashes between the Islamic State and Iraqi forces to the southeast as well, but said militants are still patrolling the city.

Another Tikrit resident, Muhanad Saif al-Din, said the city has emptied out in recent days as locals flee ahead of anticipated clashes.

“Tikrit has become a ghost town because a lot of people left over the past 72 hours, fearing random aerial bombardment and possible clashes as the army advances toward the city,” Saif al-Din said. — AP

Moscow, June 28
Russia’s foreign minister today accused the United States of encouraging Ukraine to challenge Moscow and heavily weighing in on the European Union.

Speaking in televised remarks today, Sergey Lavrov said that “our American colleagues still prefer to push the Ukrainian leadership toward a confrontational path.” He added that chances for settling the Ukrainian crisis would have been higher if it only depended on Russia and Europe.

Lavrov spoke after yesterday’s European Union summit, which decided not to immediately impose new sanctions on Russia for destabilising eastern Ukraine, but gave the Russian government and pro-Russian insurgents there until Monday to take steps to improve the situation.

Ukraine yesterday signed a free-trade pact with the EU, the very deal that angered Russia and triggered the bloodshed and political convulsions of the past seven months that brought Russia-West relations to their lowest point since the Cold War times.

In November, under pressure from Moscow, a former Ukrainian president dumped the EU pact, fuelling huge protests that eventually drove him from power. Moscow responded by annexing the mainly Russian-speaking Crimean Peninsula in March, and pro-Russian separatists soon rose up in Ukraine’s eastern provinces.

The US and the EU slapped travel bans and asset freezes on members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. — AP

Lahore, June 28
A newly-wed couple was brutally killed in full public view by the family members of the girl for marrying a ‘man of her choice’ in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

According to an FIR, Muafia Bibi (23) of Satrah village of Daska tehsil, some 100 km from Lahore, married Sajjad Ahmed (27) of nearby village Hasanabad on June 18.

“Muafia eloped with Sajjad on June 18 and they married in the court after her parents refused the marriage proposal of Sajjad,” it said.

Yesterday, the family of the girl came to know that the couple had returned to Hasanabad.

Seven members of Muafia’s family, including her father Dilshad, attacked Sajjad’s house and overpowered the couple and took them to the main chowk of their village.

The FIR further says: “The suspects first subjected the couple to severe torture and then tied up the legs and arms of Sajjad and Muafia. They cut off their heads with choppers in full public view and shouted that they had taught the lesson to the couple for disgracing them.

None from the people gathered there dared to stop the killers.” The suspects fled from the village after killing the couple.

However, police today arrested six of them and booked them under anti-terrorism act.

Police official Muhammad Shahid told PTI that six members of Muafia’s family have been arrested and they are being interrogated.

Those arrested are Ghulam Rasool (her grandfather), Dilshad (father), brothers (Shamshad and Iqbal) and her mother and a cousin, the official said.

He said the accused had inflicted fatal injuries on the heads and necks of the couple with choppers in full public view. “The accused used small axe to hit the victims’ heads and necks. But the heads were not completely severed from necks,” Shahid said.

Jamal, Sajjad’s cousin, said Sajjad had proposed Muafia formally but her parents didn’t agree.

He said that after the marriage the couple was reluctant to return to Hasanabad but a family member of Muafia told her that her parents had forgiven her. “But it turned out to be a trap,” Jamal said with tear in his eyes.

“Those viewed the gruesome incident have no words to describe it,” he added. — PTI