17 killed in fighting near Baiji refinery

baghdad — Seventeen people were killed in Iraq on Monday in clashes between Daesh militants and pro-government forces in a town close to the country’s biggest refinery, a focal point in efforts to counter the extremist group.

The refinery beside the town of Baiji has changed hands before, reflecting the Iraqi army’s struggle to hold territory it recaptures after months of clashes.

Fighting on Monday took place on a road used by Daesh for supply lines leading from Baiji to the nearby town of Siniya to the west.

Twelve militants, two government soldiers and three members of Shia militias that provide vital support for the army were killed, a senior regional security official said. Siniya is held by Daesh, which controls a third of Iraq, as well as parts of neighbouring Syria.

The group, which also holds territory in Libya and has sympathisers in Egypt, highlights the spread of militancy since the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings that toppled veteran autocrats who had repressed hardline groups. Iraq’s government hoped to gain momentum after the army and its Shia militia allies seized back Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit in April following a monthlong battle.

But the Shia-led government faced a setback last month when the insurgents captured Ramadi, provincial capital of Anbar Province. Iraq’s army, which has largely proven ineffective against the insurgents, relies heavily on Iranian-backed Shia militias as well as on US-led air strikes to try to slow the momentum of Daesh.

The group has used executions, sometimes videotaped, to strike fear into residents of areas it captures to try to sustain a self-proclaimed caliphate.

Daesh’s territorial advances have exacerbated a sectarian conflict in Iraq, which is still struggling to find stability four years after the withdrawal of US troops.

Iraq’s war has generated steady allegations of human rights abuses on all sides, as well as concerns over a humanitarian crisis. —