Thousands of Iraqi security personnel launched an operation on Tuesday aimed at retaking areas north of Baghdad from the ISIL terrorist group, officials said.

Thousands of Iraqi security personnel launched an operation on Tuesday aimed at retaking areas north of Baghdad from the ISIL terrorist group, officials said.

Counter-terrorism forces, soldiers, police and allied paramilitaries are taking part in the operation, which is backed by artillery and both Iraqi and US-led coalition aircraft, the Joint Operations Command announced.

An Iraqi army colonel said that more than 7,000 security personnel would take part in the operation, which the operations command said aims to retake areas west of the city of Samarra.

The targeted areas, which the colonel said extend from the city of Samarra up to the town of Baiji, are a corridor linking ISIL-held territory around the northern city of Mosul, the terrorists' main hub in Iraq, with areas farther south.