Update: Iraq PM visits U.S., demanding more support in fighting against IS

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Monday that his will ask for more support from the United States to fight the Islamic State (IS) militants during his visit to Washington.

"During our visit to the United States, we look forward to the development of our bilateral relations in accordance with the strategic framework agreement that would ensure our national sovereignty and common interests of the two countries," Abadi told reporters in the Baghdad airport as he boarded a flight to Washington in his first official visit to the United States as prime minister.

"We face two basic battles to cleanse Anbar and Mosul (from IS militants), and we need more support and backing," Abadi said.

Earlier in the day, Abadi's office said the prime minister sacked more than 300 army officers as part of his efforts to enhance security capabilities while the country was fighting the IS militant group.

The Iraqi security forces on Monday repelled attack of the 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.

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