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There was no
immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, the first of
its kind since the city, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, was
retaken from Islamic State in April 2015.
One militant was killed at the checkpoint after shooting dead
four police officers in the attack at around 5 a.m. (0200 GMT),
according to police and sources from Salahuddin Operations
Command, which is responsible for security in the area.
Two other militants continued about 7 km to the city limits and
detonated the explosives in their pickup truck, killing eight
people and wounding 23, the sources said.
An unverified photograph shared on social media showed two dark
plumes of smoke rising into the sky near arches at the city's
northern gates.
After the attacks, police tightened security in Tikrit, which
already had some of the most restrictive security measures in
place following its recapture from Islamic State. It was not
clear if other assailants were still in the area.
The military this week retook the district of Shirqat, 100 km
north of Tikrit, from Islamic State in preparation for a move on
the northern city of Mosul later this year.
(Reporting by Ghazwan Hassan; Writing by Stephen Kalin; Editing
by Janet Lawrence)
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