Special to WorldTribune.com
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) militants launched fresh attacks on May 7 against government troops who are defending Iraq’s largest oil refinery.
Iraqi military officials say government forces were facing one of their toughest battles after the ISIL militants launched “a fierce attack at dawn” on the Baiji refinery about 200 kilometers north of Baghdad.
The vast refinery complex has been besieged by ISIL fighters for months after the group seized large swathes of territory across northern and western Iraq during the summer of 2014.
The siege was broken in late 2014, but ISIL fighters attacked again in recent weeks and some managed to establish positions inside the refinery compound.
Iraqi Army officials say those who broke inside the refinery have taken up positions in buildings.
The Iraqi officials described the ISIL fighters now inside the Baiji compound as “suicide fighters who will not leave until they have been killed.”
ISIL suicide fighters launch ‘fierce attack’ on Iraq’s largest oil refinery added by World Tribune on
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