MIDEAST-CRISIS/IRAQ-BAIJI Islamic State suicide bombers strike in Iraqi refinery town

Record ID: 148435

  • Title: MIDEAST-CRISIS/IRAQ-BAIJI Islamic State suicide bombers strike in Iraqi refinery town
  • Date: 5th July 2015
  • Summary: BAIJI, SALAHUDDIN PROVINCE, IRAQ (JULY 2, 2015) (REUTERS) SHI'ITE FIGHTERS NEAR ARMOURED VEHICLE SHI'ITE FIGHTERS TAKING SHELTER BEHIND WALL SHI'ITE FIGHTER RUNNING FORWARD/ FIRING MACHINE GUN / RETREATING SHI'ITE FIGHTER FIRING MACHINE-GUN / ANOTHER SHI'ITE FIGHTER FIRING SHI'ITE FIGHTER FIRING HUMVEE SPEEDING DOWN ROAD SHI'ITE FIGHTER TALKING INTO RADIO MACHINE GUN BEING
  • Embargoed: 20th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAA2CG13MQJONMZAXGUF1CELBQ3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Islamic State suicide bombers and fighters attacked the centre of Iraq's northern oil refinery town of Baiji overnight, forcing the army and Shi'ite fighters to pull back, military sources said on Sunday (July 5).
    The town of Baiji and its refinery - Iraq's largest - have been a battlefront for more than a year.
    The hardline Islamists seized the town in June 2014 as they swept through much of northern Iraq towards the capital Baghdad.
    Control of Baiji neighbourhoods has changed hands many times during the conflict.
    The latest Islamic State offensive comes after authorities said they controlled nearly the whole town and expected to drive insurgents from the refinery within days.
    The militants attacked around 8 pm (1700 GMT) on Saturday with two suicide car bombings. The blasts were followed by fierce clashes that lasted until midnight and drove the army and mainly Shi'ite Hashd Shaabi forces from the centre of town, two army colonels said.
    Shi'ite fighters said on Thursday (July 2) that they had cleared Islamic State fighters from most of the town.
    "I say that 80 percent of Baiji has been liberated. There is Baiji as a town and Baiji Refinery. It is not easy to recapture the centre of the town of Baiji. It is not like the centre of Kerbala, which consists of of four streets. Baiji is a vast area, which can be considered as a province rather than a town. Baiji refinery is located outside the town. As a town, most of Baiji was recaptured," said Wassim Musleh , a fighter in the Shi'ite Brigade of Ali al-Akbar, which is part of Hashd Shaabi, speaking on Thursday (July 2).
    If the Shi'ite Hashd Shaabi fighters and Iraqi security forces regain full control around Baiji, it could help them push north towards the Islamic State-held city of Mosul and offset losses to the Sunni militants in the western province of Anbar.
    "Daesh is using Baiji as a defensive line of Mosul, therefore they brought in all their elite and foreign fighters and assembled them in Baiji to defend Mosul. They (Islamic State) know that if Baiji falls, we can push north towards Mosul. We will only have to retake Hawija and Shirqat and after that we will be in the centre of Mosul," Musleh added.
    Army officers said the army and Hashd groups were preparing a response to the latest Islamic State attack.
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