IS renews efforts to grab Iraq's largest oil facility
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E-mail Xinhua, April 15, 2015
The Islamic State (IS) militants on Tuesday renewed their attacks in a bid to grab Iraq's largest oil refinery complexes, while capital Baghdad saw a series of deadly car bomb attacks that left a dozen killed.
In the fierce battles against the IS militants, Major Gen. Dhaif Khalaf and nine of his bodyguards, were killed, and the militants managed to seize part of the refinery, provincial security sources said.
The refinery located near the town of Baiji in Salahudin province. IS militants' dawn attacks made some progress inside the huge oil facility after heavy clashes with the security forces, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The extremist militants set fire to some installations of the refinery, sending columns of black smoke above the area, and apparently prevented the air support to the troops, the source said.
The source also said that the IS' progress was limited, and they failed to take control of the oil facility because of strong resistance by the security forces.
Abdul-Wahab al-Saedi, commander of Salahudin operations, told Iraqi media that reinforcement forces arrived to Baiji, some 200 km north of Baghdad, and are moving in three directions toward the refinery in order to support the troops who are fighting inside the refinery.
The advance of IS is part of a series of attacks that targeted the oil refinery since Saturday, but the security forces reportedly repelled the attacks with the assistance of the international coalition and Iraqi aircraft.
Separately, four policemen were killed while they were trying to defuse a booby-trapped house in al-Qadsiyah district in northern part of the provincial capital city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, four government-backed Sunni tribesmen were killed and two others wounded in a clash with IS militants in the village of al-Mazraa in south of Baiji, the source said.
Battles in the Sunni dominated province of Salahudin came about two weeks after the Iraqi security forces retook control of Tikrit, when some 30,000 security members backed by allied Shiite and Sunni militias and covered by Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition aircraft launched Iraq's biggest offensive against the IS militant group.
On Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he will ask for more support from the United States to fight the IS group during his visit to Washington.
"We face two basic battles to cleanse Anbar and Mosul (from IS militants), and we need more support and backing," Abadi said.
Earlier, Abadi's office said the prime minister sacked more than 300 army officers as part of his efforts to enhance security capabilities while the country was fighting the IS militant group.
BLOODY BAGHDAD
Also on Tuesday, a total of 12 people were killed and 41 others wounded in four car bomb attacks at busy areas in and near the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.
A booby-trapped car ripped through a parking-lot in Mashtal district in southeastern Baghdad in the afternoon, leaving three people killed and 12 others wounded, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, four people were killed and 11 others wounded when a roadside bomb explosion followed by a car bomb blast hit a busy parking-lot in the town of Madain, some 30 km southeast of Baghdad, the source said.
Earlier in the day, the source said that a total of five people were killed and 18 wounded in two car bomb blasts at a park near Yarmouk Hospital in western Baghdad and at the entrance of the town of Mahmoudiyah, some 30 km south of Baghdad.
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