BAGHDAD (AP) – A series of bomb attacks struck marketplaces near Baghdad on Friday, killing at least 15 people, Iraqi officials said as security forces recaptured parts of a strategic Sunni oil town north of the capital from Islamic State militants.
Iraq is embroiled in its worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops in the wake of a blitz this year by the Sunni militant Islamic State group, which has seized a third of the country’s territory.
After heavy fighting overnight, Iraqi security forces backed by Shiite volunteers managed to push into the strategic oil town of Beiji on Friday, taking control of some of the town’s southern districts, according to officials.
The town had fallen into the hands of the Islamic State group in early June but Iraqi forces managed to keep the IS group from taking over the Beiji refinery, Iraq’s largest.
A media official in the Salahuddin provincial government said Iraqi troops seized the mayor’s office and the police station in Beiji and that clashes were continuing in the town, which is about 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad.