AWJA, Iraq (AFP) - Iraqi forces besieging a few die-hard militants in Tikrit will liberate the city within three days, a spokesman told AFP on Saturday.

Karim al-Nuri, a top leader from the Badr militia and the spokesman of the volunteer Popular Mobilisation units, said it would take no more than "72 hours" to flush out fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The Popular Mobilisation units account for the bulk of the manpower involved in the two-week-old operation to take back Tikrit, alongside army, police, militia and tribal forces.