[23] The following day, they killed over a thousand Iraqi Air Force cadets at Camp Speicher, 8 miles northwest of Tikrit.

[29] On 28 June, helicopter gunships conducted dawn air strikes against insurgents who were attacking troops at the university campus.

[32][33] In the evening, helicopters struck a gathering of people preparing for a wedding ceremony in the village of Al Bu Hayazi, east of Tikrit, killing four civilians.

[34] The next day, troops pulled back away from Tikrit to the nearby town of Dijla, south of the city, in an attempt to regroup after meeting stiff resistance.

An Iraqi army spokesman claimed 70 militants had been killed in Tikrit in the previous 24 hours and that the government forces were in control of the university.

[40] On 30 June, government forces attempted to move out of the air base and link up with troops at the university but failed after encountering heavy insurgent resistance in the al-Deum area.

[16] On 3 July, an Iraqi Army spokesman claimed the military had regained control of the town of Al-Awja, Saddam Hussein's birthplace, near Tikrit.

However, ISIL militants sprung an ambush, with suicide bombers reportedly leaping from windows into groups of soldiers.

[46] Government troops retreated from the city before sunset four kilometers to the south under constant mortar and sniper fire.

[13] On 17 July, insurgents launched an assault on Camp Speicher, where an estimated 700 government soldiers and 150 Iranian or Iraqi Shiite militiamen were besieged following the failed attempt to send reinforcements to the air base.

[48] The assault included snipers and suicide bombers and the militants quickly managed to reach the runway, at which point Iraqi special forces joined the battle.

[50] Though the United States participated in the battle on the Iraqi side, The Washington Post wrote that some Iranian groups accused the coalition of bombarding a pro-government headquarters in the city.