Iraqi forces retake most of strategic oil town
Source: AP-EXCITE
By HAMZA HENDAWI
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi soldiers battling the Islamic State group recaptured most of the town of Beiji, home to the country's largest oil refinery, state television and a provincial governor said Tuesday.
The strategic town, 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad, will likely be a base for a future push to take back Saddam Hussein's hometown just to the south, one of the main prizes overrun by the extremists last summer. But troops backed by Shiite militias faced pockets of stiff resistance around Beiji, hindering their advance.
There was no word on the fate of the refinery, which lies on Beiji's northern outskirts, but the advances in the town could help break the five-month siege of the facility by Islamic State fighters. Since June, a small army unit inside the refinery, resupplied and reinforced by air, has successfully resisted wave after wave of extremist assaults.
Lifting the siege of the refinery, which sits inside a sprawling complex, was likely the next objective in the campaign to rid Beiji of the militants, according to military officials reached in the town by telephone.
FULL story at link.
In this Thursday, July 31, 2014 file photo, a column of smoke rises from an oil refinery in Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, after an attack by Islamic militants. Iraqi soldiers battling the Islamic State group recaptured the heart of the town of Beiji, home to the country's largest oil refinery, state television and a military official said Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014. Retaking Beiji, could allow Iraqi forces a base to attack neighboring Tikrit, taken by the extremists after their lightning advance this summer. (AP Photo, File)
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Good Job.