Iraqi forces recapture 2 towns from IS near crucial refinery

Baghdad: A senior Iraqi military official with the Salahuddin Command Center says Iraqi security forces have gained full control over a contested area south of the country’s largest oil refinery. General Ayad al-Lahabi tells
The Associated Press that the military, backed by divisions of the Popular Mobilisation Forces and coalition airstrikes, gained control today of the towns of al-Malha and al-Mazraah, located 3 kilometers south of the Beiji oil refinery, killing at least 160 militants with the Islamic State group.
Al-Lahabi says security forces are trying to secure two corridors around the refinery itself after the Sunni militants launched a large-scale attack on the complex earlier this week. Iraqi security forces, also backed by the Popular Mobilization Forces and US airstrikes, recaptured the provincial capital of Tikrit on April 1. (AP)