Militants fly their black flags over Iraq refinery
Source: By SAMEER N. YACOUB and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
BAGHDAD (AP) — Sunni militants have hung their black banners on watch towers at Iraq's largest oil refinery, a witness said Thursday, suggesting the vital facility had fallen to the insurgents in control of vast territories across the country's north. A top Iraqi security official, however, said the government still held the facility.
The fighting at Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad, comes as Iraq has asked the U.S. to launch airstrikes targeting militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. While U.S. President Barack Obama has not fully ruled out the possibility of launching airstrikes, such action is not imminent, officials said, in part because intelligence agencies have been unable to identify clear targets on the ground.
The Iraqi witness who drove past the Beiji refinery, said militants also manned checkpoints around it. He said a huge fire in one of its tankers was raging at the time. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals.
The Iraqi security official said the government force protecting the refinery was still inside Thursday and that they were in regular contact with Baghdad. The refinery's workers had been evacuated to nearby villages, he said.
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Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140619/ml--iraq-9bdf4f3f68.html
In this Tuesday, June 17, 2014 image taken from video uploaded to a militant social media account, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants arrive to the country{2019}s largest oil refinery in Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad, Iraq. Iraqi security forces battled insurgents targeting the country{2019}s main oil refinery and said they regained partial control of a city near the Syrian border Wednesday, trying to blunt a weeklong offensive by Sunni militants who diplomats fear may have also seized some 100 foreign workers. (AP Photo via militant video)
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