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Iraq Says IS Militants Driven From Key Oil Refinery Town


Iraq says its forces have driven Islamic State militants out of a key oil refinery town north of Baghdad.

The Joint Military Command spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, told the AP news agency on October 20 that army troops and paramilitary forces, made up mainly of Shi'ite militias, retook the town of Beiji.

State-run TV showed what it said was a residential area in Beiji. Soldiers could be seen waving Iraqi flags from rooftops as thick black smoke billowed into the air.

IS militants captured Beiji and parts of a nearby oil refinery -- Iraq's largest -- during its offensive across the country's north in June 2014. The town and the refinery have been heavily contested since then.

Iraq announced that troops had recaptured the entire refinery last week.

Based on reporting by AP

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