Iraq clears massive oil refinery of Daesh — coalition

BAGHDAD — Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes cleared the country's largest oil refinery of Daesh terror group, the international coalition helping Baghdad fight the jihadists said on Sunday.

Daesh has repeatedly attempted over the past 10 months to capture the Baiji refinery north of Baghdad, most recently seizing parts of the facility and holding out for days.

Iraqi forces "regained full control of the Baiji Oil Refinery after having successfully cleared the massive facility of any remaining [Daesh] fighters," the US-led coalition said in a statement.

The coalition carried out 47 air strikes in the Baiji area over nine days and Iraq has deployed reinforcements to the refinery and is fortifying the facility, it said.

The refinery — some 200 kilometres north of of the Iraqi capital — once produced some 300,000 barrels of refined products per day, meeting half the country's needs.

That ended when a Daesh-led offensive overran large areas north and west of Baghdad last June, cutting the refinery off.

An Iraqi operation backed by coalition strikes eventually broke the siege in October and retook the town of Baiji, just south of the refinery.

But the jihadists later wrested the town back again.