IS militants launch 4 suicide bombings in central Iraq

Four huge explosions occurred on Saturday by suicide bombers of the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Salahudin province and the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, security sources said.

In Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, two suicide bombers drove their explosive-laden vehicles near the positions of the security forces and allied militias and blew them up in Iraq's largest oil refinery near the battleground town of Baiji, some 200 km north of Baghdad, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Dozens of IS militants immediately followed the two huge blasts sparking heavy clash with the troops, the source said.

At least two security members were killed and five others wounded by the blasts and the following clash, he said without giving details about the casualties among the IS militants.

The security forces and pro-government paramilitary groups, known as Hashd Shaabi, backed by Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition aircraft, have been fighting fierce clashes with the extremist militants to drive them out of the town of Baiji and the nearby 22-square kilometer oil refinery, but the two sides have involved in fierce tug-of-war battles during the past few months.

Also in the province, a police force clashed with IS militants in Himreen mountainous area in the eastern part of the province, after the force was called in to save a group of civilians who escaped the IS-held town of Hawija, in west of the northern province of Kirkuk, and were chased by IS militants, leaving a policeman killed and three others injured, the source said.

IS militants prevent the residents of the Iraqi cities and towns under IS control from leaving their homes to seek safer areas or to get rid of the extremist militant's brutality, and sometimes chase them to the smugglers' routes in the mountains and deserts to bring them back or kill them.

The predominantly Sunni province of Salahudin, which its Tikrit is the hometown of former President Saddam Hussein, has been the scene for deadly battles between the Iraqi security forces backed by paramilitary militias and IS militants who captured the northern parts of the province following the June 10 blitzkrieg last year when the extremist group seized large swathes of territories in predominantly Sunni provinces.

In Baghdad, two suicide bombers blew up their explosive vests on a main road near Ameriyah district in western the capital, wounding five civilians, an Interior Ministry source anonymously told Xinhua.

The two blasts apparently occurred prematurely before the suicide bombers reach their targets as the scene was empty from any possible target, the source said, adding that investigation was under about the incident.

IS frequently targets areas where crowds of people gather, including markets, cafes and mosques across Iraq.

Iraq has been witnessing some of the worst violence in years. Terrorism and violence have left at least 12,282 civilians dead and 23,126 others injured in 2014, making it the deadliest year since the flareup of sectarian violence in 2006-2007, according to a recent United Nations report. Enditem