Tikrit

Tikrit (Arabic: تِكْرِيت, romanized: Tikrīt [ˈtɪkriːt]), historically romanized as Tekrit, is a city in Iraq, located 140 kilometers (87 mi) northwest of Baghdad and 220 kilometers (140 mi) southeast of Mosul on the Tigris River. It is the administrative center of the Saladin Governorate. In 2012, it had a population of approximately 160,000. Tikrit is widely regarded as the cultural capital of Iraqi Sunni Arabs, with control of the city carrying symbolic weight due to its former prestige. The inner city is notable for also being a university town as it is frequented by students of the city's major university, the University of Tikrit which attracts talent from around Iraq. Originally created as a fort during the Assyrian empire, Tikrit was the birthplace of Muslim military leader Saladin. Many Iraqi government officials during the Ba'athist period (1968–2003) were from Tikrit; former president Saddam Hussein was born in the village of Al-Awja, 13 km south of the city. Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition, Tikrit was one of the cities in Iraq's "Sunni Triangle" which were core to an anti-coalition insurgency by Sunni militants—notably, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI). In 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), ISI's successor, captured the city, and massacred 1,700 cadets of the Iraqi Armed Forces there. It was the second-deadliest terrorist attack in history. During the Second Battle of Tikrit in 2015, Iraqi government forces regained control of the city, while 28,000 civilians were displaced. Tikrit has been peaceful since then.