BBC Online :
The Iraqi army says it has driven off Islamist-led militants attacking the country’s biggest oil refinery amid reports it had been overrun.
An official told Reuters the militants had occupied 75% of the Baiji refinery, 210km (130 miles) north of Baghdad.
The army said 40 attackers had been killed, a claim which could not be verified independently.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has gone on television to urge Iraqis to unite against the militants.
Government forces are battling to push back ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) and its Sunni Muslim allies in Diyala and Salahuddin provinces, after the militants overran the second city, Mosul, last week.
You can watch a BBC News special on the situation in Iraq on the BBC News Channel in the UK and BBC World internationally at 16:00 BST (15:00 GMT) today and follow our online live coverage.
The attack on the refinery started at 04:00 (01:00 GMT) from outside two of the three main entrances to the refinery, according to Reuters.
Smoke rose from a spare-parts warehouse and some stores of oil were reportedly destroyed.
“The militants have managed to break into the refinery,” the unnamed official told Reuters from inside the refinery. “Now they are in control of the production units, administration building and four watchtowers. This is 75% of the refinery.”
Army spokesman Qasim Ata said in news conference broadcast live on TV: “The security forces thwarted an attempt by ISIS to attack the Baiji refinery and 40 terrorists were killed.”
The nearby town of Baiji was overrun by ISIS-led militants last week. Foreign personnel, including a small number of British nationals, were evacuated from the refinery earlier but local staff reportedly remained in place.
Baiji accounts for a little more than a quarter of the country’s entire refining capacity, all of which goes toward domestic consumption for things like petrol, cooking oil and fuel for power stations, an official told AP news agency.
Hundreds of people have been killed since the start of the militant offensive last week, many of them believed to be captured soldiers publicly shot by ISIS-led firing squads. During fighting in the city of Baquba this week, 44 prisoners were killed inside a police station in unclear circumstances.
Government forces have renewed air strikes on militants while militants in the western province of Anbar say they have made advances, with a number of police stations near the town of Hit going over to dissident tribes.
The Iraqi army says it has driven off Islamist-led militants attacking the country’s biggest oil refinery amid reports it had been overrun.
An official told Reuters the militants had occupied 75% of the Baiji refinery, 210km (130 miles) north of Baghdad.
The army said 40 attackers had been killed, a claim which could not be verified independently.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has gone on television to urge Iraqis to unite against the militants.
Government forces are battling to push back ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) and its Sunni Muslim allies in Diyala and Salahuddin provinces, after the militants overran the second city, Mosul, last week.
You can watch a BBC News special on the situation in Iraq on the BBC News Channel in the UK and BBC World internationally at 16:00 BST (15:00 GMT) today and follow our online live coverage.
The attack on the refinery started at 04:00 (01:00 GMT) from outside two of the three main entrances to the refinery, according to Reuters.
Smoke rose from a spare-parts warehouse and some stores of oil were reportedly destroyed.
“The militants have managed to break into the refinery,” the unnamed official told Reuters from inside the refinery. “Now they are in control of the production units, administration building and four watchtowers. This is 75% of the refinery.”
Army spokesman Qasim Ata said in news conference broadcast live on TV: “The security forces thwarted an attempt by ISIS to attack the Baiji refinery and 40 terrorists were killed.”
The nearby town of Baiji was overrun by ISIS-led militants last week. Foreign personnel, including a small number of British nationals, were evacuated from the refinery earlier but local staff reportedly remained in place.
Baiji accounts for a little more than a quarter of the country’s entire refining capacity, all of which goes toward domestic consumption for things like petrol, cooking oil and fuel for power stations, an official told AP news agency.
Hundreds of people have been killed since the start of the militant offensive last week, many of them believed to be captured soldiers publicly shot by ISIS-led firing squads. During fighting in the city of Baquba this week, 44 prisoners were killed inside a police station in unclear circumstances.
Government forces have renewed air strikes on militants while militants in the western province of Anbar say they have made advances, with a number of police stations near the town of Hit going over to dissident tribes.
