By Oliver Holmes and Isra'a al-Rubei'i BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi troops battled to dislodge an al Qaeda splinter group from the city of Tikrit on Monday after its leader was declared caliph of a new Islamic state in lands seized this month across a swath of Iraq and Syria. Underscoring rising tensions in the region, the United States said it had sent about 300 additional troops into Iraq along with a detachment of helicopters and drone aircraft. Alarming regional and world powers, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed universal authority, declaring that its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was now caliph of the Muslim world, a mediaeval title last widely recognized in the Ottoman sultan deposed 90 years ago after World War One.
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