Iraq Forces Regain Control of Main Refinery

Local Editor

Iraqi government forces regained full control Thursday of the country's biggest oil refinery after heavy fighting with terrorists attempting to seize it, officials said.

The so-called "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" terrorists stormed the complex in Baiji, south of Iraq's militant-held second city Mosul, on Wednesday, setting fire to several storage tanks for refined products in a move that sent jitters through world oil markets.

"The security forces are in full control of the Baiji refinery," Lieutenant General Qassem Atta, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's security spokesman, said in televised remarks.

A refinery employee stated that the militants had withdrawn, as did other witnesses, who said the assailants quit the sprawling complex in the face of a heavy fight back by security forces.

Clashes erupted at the refinery early on Wednesday, setting storage tanks for petroleum products alight. The fighting went on until roughly midnight (and continued sporadically into Thursday.

The refinery is the biggest in Iraq, accounting for some 50 percent of the country's supplies of refined products.

But its catchment area has been sharply curtailed by the militants' seizure of a swathe of northern Iraq, including second city Mosul, which has a population of some two million people.

Later on Thursday, Maliki ordered back to duty security officers not currently serving in active units to bolster forces battling the ISIL's offensive that has overrun swathes of territory.

"Officers from brigadier general and lower have been transferred ... to units according to their specialization and classification," he said in a statement read on state television.

The order applies to an unknown number of officers who are still officially members of the security forces but not currently assigned to active duty units.

The officers will be assessed for a period of three months and those who are not deemed capable will be retired, the premier said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team