KIRKUK: Iraqi forces retook the strategic northern town of Baiji, near the country’s largest oil refinery, yesterday after more than two weeks of fighting with the Islamic State (IS) group, officials said.
Baiji, which had been out of government control for months, lies on the main highway to Iraq’s IS-controlled second city Mosul, and its recapture further isolates militants in the city of Tikrit, to the south.
It is the largest town to be recaptured by government forces since IS-led militants overran much of the country’s Sunni Arab heartland in June, and their victory is one of the most significant in the conflict so far.
“Iraqi forces were able to regain complete control of the town of Baiji,” Ahmed Al Krayim, the head of the Salaheddin provincial council, said.
An army major general, a police colonel and an army major all confirmed that the Baiji was retaken. State television also reported that the town was back in government hands.
“Iraqi forces are on their way to the Baiji refinery,” north of the town, where security forces have held out against repeated jihadist attacks, Krayim said.
Breaking through to the massive refinery, which once filled 50 percent of the country’s demand for refined petroleum products, would be another significant win for the government in Baghdad, although it would take time before it could be brought back online.
The operation to retake Baiji began more than four weeks ago when security forces and pro-government fighters began advancing towards the town from the south, slowed by bombs militants had planted on the way and finally entering the town on October 31.
Multiple security force divisions collapsed in the early days of the IS-led offensive, and Baghdad’s troops subsequently struggled to regain ground.
But backed by US-led air strikes, supported by Shiite militias and Sunni tribesmen, aided by international advisers and with signficant reshuffling of top officers, Baghdad’s forces have begun to perform better.
The IS on Thursday had released a defiant audio recording it said was of chief Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, after air strikes on jihadist leaders in Iraq sparked rumours he had been wounded or killed.
In the 17-minute message, the man purported to be Baghdadi vowed that IS, which has overrun swathes of Iraq and Syria, will continue to expand despite international air strikes, and that its opponents will be drawn into a ground war.AFP
