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Thousands of Iraqi troops and militiamen laid siege to jihadi fighters holed up in Tikrit Thursday, wary of rushing into streets littered with bombs and infested with snipers, The Daily Star reported citing news agencies.

After making major gains in and around the city Wednesday, commanders were confident that Baghdad’s biggest victory yet against ISIS was only a matter of time.

“Now we are moving to the second phase of our plan,” Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi told reporters in Salahuddin province, of which Tikrit is the capital.

“We are very keen for our losses to be as low as possible. Time is on our side, we have the initiative,” he said on the 11th day of the offensive.

None of the fighting forces involved has provided casualty figures since the start of the operation to take back Tikrit, the largest since ISIS captured the city nine months ago.

Dozens of bodies are being driven south to Baghdad and the Shiite holy city of Najaf almost every day, however, and, while government forces have had the upper hand, ISIS has done damage with suicide car bombs, booby traps and snipers.

“We don’t want to be rushed because we want to avoid casualties,” Police Staff Maj. Gen. Bahaa al-Azzawi told AFP in Albu Ajil, a village from which Tikrit can be seen across the Tigris river. “Tikrit is sealed off from all sides,” he said.

A military source told Reuters the insurgents still held the presidential complex and at least three other districts in the center of Tikrit, holding up further army advances with snipers and bombs.

A Reuters photographer saw one car bomb explode on the western edge of the city, and security officials said ISIS fighters had booby-trapped abandoned buildings.