ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – In a continuation of military operations in Salahadin province against ISIS militants, Iraqi joint forces have captured three strategic areas in the city of Baiji as well as three watch towers inside the Baiji oil refinery, Rashid Bayati, a member of the Salahadin provincial council, told Rudaw Wednesday.
“With the help of Hashd al-Shaabi, Sunni tribal militants and coalition airstrikes, the Iraqi army managed to clear the Baiji neighborhoods of Hai Askari, Hai Naft and Shahidan of the extremists as well as three watch towers inside the Baiji refinery,” Bayati said.
Earlier this week, the Salahadin province police media office told Rudaw the areas of Tal Jarad and southwestern Baiji had also been cleared by a joint force of Hashd al-Shaabi and Iraqi federal police. “They were locked in an intense battle, inflicting heavy casualties among the ISIS militants, and some five Hashd al-Shaabi militants were killed,” the office reported.
On May 10, Iraqi security forces broke an Islamic State siege of the key Baiji oil refinery following a joint assault with Shiite militia and tribal groups, Bayati previously told Rudaw.
