Iraqi forces retake key oil refinery from IS militants

Iraqi security forces on Wednesday retook control of more areas from the Islamic State (IS) militants in and near the oil refinery town of Baiji in Salahudin province, as part of a major offensive to free the northern parts of the province, a provincial security source said.

The Iraqi government has claimed multiple times before to have secured the facility, so the substance or durability of the gains can not be established.

The IS group has declared an Islamic caliphate in the territories it controls in Syria and Iraq, and has used oil smuggling to finance much of its operations. There was also no word on the fate of the nearby town of Beiji.

“The army units and fighters of people’s militia managed to completely liberate Baiji oil refinery, there are no signs that a few terrorists remain inside”, Samir Shuvayli told Iraq’s Alsumaria news network.

In April, Iraqi armed forces wrested back full control of the city of Tikrit in embattled Salahuddin Province after driving Daesh Takfiri extremists out of the area.

The Joint Military Command said in a statement the forces retook Beiji refinery and nearby Siniya town, but did not provide additional details on the operation at the sprawling refinery, Iraq’s largest which has been idle since June a year ago.

In Iraq’s western province of Anbar, several roadside bombs went off near an army patrol in west of the IS-held provincial capital city of Ramadi, leaving 12 soldiers killed, a provincial security source told Xinhua.

Video footage seen by Reuters showed Hadi al-Amiri, the leader of the Badr Brigade militia and a leading Shi’ite politician, inside Baiji refinery unfurling a map and briefing a group of Shiite fighters on military operations.

“Any military that required more than a year to capture a small town – and we’re not even sure they can actually hold Baiji at this stage – is not in any sort of position to mount an offensive on these cities”, the adviser said, asking that he not be identified because of his relationship to the Kurdish government.