epa04688959 Iraqi soldiers and Shiite volunteers hold a flag belonging to the Islamic State after they regained control of Tikrit, northern Iraq, 01 April 2015. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi arrived in the northern town of Tikrit on 01 April, a day after he announced the ‘liberation’ of the strategic town from the Islamic State militia. Al-Abadi was expected to raise the Iraqi flag on the provincial headquarters of the town in a symbol of its recapture from hardline jihadists, Iraqi media reported. EPA/STR