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Baghdad: oil town Baiji in 'almost fully' under control
[Rudaw] Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled Ubaidi said Friday the hotly contested oil city of Baiji was "almost fully" controlled by government troops after months of fierce festivities between security forces and gunnies of the Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... , or ISIS, who captured large parts of the town earlier in May. "Iraqi forces have been able to push gunnies back and control all the districts in Baiji except for Muhandeseen neighborhood east of the township," Ubaidi said during an interview with Russia Today, adding that over 1,000 ISIS gunnies have been killed in the festivities. On Thursday, Beiji's mayor, Muhammad Mahmoud, told Rudaw the street fighting continued unabated in the township with sporadic sniper attacks on government forces. Three boom-mobiles hit a group of government forces in central parts of Baiji on Tuesday killing at least 11 people and wounding another 21, the defense ministry said. Baiji, some 70 kilometers southwest of Kirkuk city, has the largest oil-producing refinery in Iraq and a large power plant. The refinery has been shut down since ISIS launched its Iraqi offensive more than a year ago. Government troops supported by the Shiite militia movement known as the Hashd al-Shaabi have been locked in a year-long bloody war in the city trying to drive the gunnies away from the strategic refinery. Ubaidi who is in Moscow for talks on military aid for Iraqi forces said Russia was committed to an earlier agreement to help Baghdad in the fight. Earlier in May, Moscow offered visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi military assistance against the ISIS who have made progress in central Iraq during the summer. Posted by: trailing wife 2015-08-02 |
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