Iraq regains its main oil refinery from IS

Kirkuk, Iraq: Iraqi pro-government forces on Saturday broke the siege of the country’s main oil refinery, where security forces had held out for months against the Islamic State jihadist group.“Iraqi forces have reached the gate of the refinery,” the governor of Salaheddin province, Raad al-Juburi, said.

 

Three officers confirmed that Iraqi forces had reached the refinery in the country’s north, which once handled some 300,000 barrels of oil per day, filling some 50 per cent of national demand.

 

But it has been besieged for months and repeatedly attacked by jihadists, who were able to enter the massive refinery compound but failed to gain control of it. The advance to the refinery came a day after another significant victory for Iraqi forces, who recaptured the strategic town of Baiji, just to the south.Baiji is the largest town they have retaken since IS militants overran large parts of the country in June.