Iraqi soldiers push back ISIL at refinery

Iraq’s counter-terrorism forces, backed by the army’s fighter jets, responded to the attack against the refinery near the city of Baiji, located 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital Baghdad, on Friday.

Dozens of the Takfiri militants were reportedly killed and injured in the counter-offensive.

Iraqi officials said the militants took their injured to the Baiji hospital where they forced people to donate blood for them.

The refinery has been a scene of fierce fighting between the two sides since late June.

The crisis in Iraq escalated after the ISIL Takfiri militants took control of Mosul, in a lightning advance on June 10, which was followed by the fall of Tikrit, located 140 kilometers (87 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

More than a million people have been displaced in Iraq so far this year, according to the United Nations.

The ISIL has vowed to continue its raid towards Baghdad. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said that the country’s security forces would confront the terrorists, calling the seizure of Mosul a “conspiracy".

Soldiers of the Iraqi army have been engaged in heavy fighting with the militants on different fronts and have so far been able to push back militants in several areas.

Maliki has said Saudi Arabia and Qatar are responsible for the security crisis and growing terrorism in his country, denouncing the Al Saud regime as a major supporter of global terrorism.

HK