Security forces fight back IS militants, attacks continue in Iraq

The Iraqi security forces on Monday repelled attacked of the Islamic State (IS) militants in the country's provinces of Salahudin and Anbar, while clashes and bomb attacks continued across the country, an official and security sources said.

In Salahudin province, the security forces backed by U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi aircraft repelled an attack by the IS militants on Iraq's largest refinery near the town of Baiji, some 200 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, after two days of fierce clashes, Jasim Jbara, head of the security committee of Salahudin's provincial council told Xinhua by telephone.

"The attack started on Saturday on Baiji refinery and the IS militants approached to the defense line around the refinery, but troops repelled their attack after the international coalition and Iraqi aircraft carried out airstrikes on the IS militants and their vehicles," Jbara said.

A total of 20 militants were killed and five of their vehicles were destroyed in the battles, while five security members were also killed by the clashes, Jbara added.

"The situation is under control by the security forces despite that the refinery is now surrounded by the extremist militants, as the security forces in the refinery are capable of defending their positions until breaking the siege," Jbara said.

Separately, the IS militants attacked an army convoy in Is'haqi area, some 100 km north of Baghdad, and killed two officers and two soldiers, while two other soldiers wounded, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

In Anbar province, the security forces and allied Sunni paramilitary tribesmen heavily clashed with the IS militants and repelled their attack on al-Malaab street in central the provincial capital city of Ramadi and al-Tamim district in western the city, a provincial security source told Xinhua.

The battle resulted in the killing of seven IS militants and two local policemen and the wounding of five security members, the source said.

Later in the day, the U.S.-led coalition warplanes carried out airstrikes on the IS positions in the same battlefields, leaving dozens of IS militants killed and six of their vehicles destroyed, the source added.

In Baghdad, a booby-trapped car went off in al-Baiyaa district in southern the capital, leaving two people killed and 38 others wounded, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The security situation in Iraq has been drastically deteriorated since June last year, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and the IS. Endit