BAGHDAD, March 26 -- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al- Abadi announced Wednesday evening that the Iraqi forces started the final phase to liberate Salahuddin province.

"We announce to our people and all our supporters in the world that we're going to meet the final phase of the operation in Salahuddin. We will raise the Iraqi flag on this ground according to our plan," Abadi said in a televised speech.

Abadi praised all those involved in the battle against the Islamic State group,"The victory was achieved by the Iraqi heroes from the army, police forces, volunteers of the Popular Mobilization, and the local people of Salahuddin, as well as the friendly countries and the international coalition."

Meanwhile, Iraqi forces launched intense aerial attacks Wednesday evening with the help of the international coalition in the provincial capital city of Tikrit, said a security source.

Jassim Al-Jabara, head of the security and defense committee of the provincial parliament, told Xinhua that the operations included an aerial bombardment from Iraqi planes supported by U.S.- led coalition to the positions of IS in east Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad.

He added that the airstrikes also targeted some ammunition depots and vehicles carrying heavy machine guns, and killed a number of IS militants.

The Iraqi troops and government-backed Shiite and Sunni militias have been carrying out an offensive since Tuesday to free Tikrit and gained some ground in parts of the city.

However, they have been moving slowly and cautiously amid sporadic clashes with the militants, including a large number of IS snipers, while dealing with hundreds of roadside bombs and booby-trapped houses.

Some 30,000 Iraqi troops and thousands of allied Shiite and Sunni militias have been involved in two-week operation to recapture Tikrit and other key towns and villages in the northern part of Salahudin province from IS militants.

Large parts of the province have been under IS control since June 2014, after bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and the group.

The IS has taken control of the country's northern city of Mosul and later seized swathes of territories in Nineveh and other predominantly Sunni provinces.