Alwaght-Iraq says the country's army and volunteer forces have liberated the refinery town of Baiji from the ISIS Takfiri terrorists.
Speaking on Tuesday, the spokesman of Iraq’s Joint Military Command Brigadier General Yahya Rasool that army troops and volunteer forces, known as Popular Mobilization Forces, have taken full control of the town of Baiji in Salahuddin Province.
Footage aired by the state-run TV showed Iraqi troops waving flags from rooftops in Baiji as thick black smoke billowed into the air.
Iraqi officials announced the liberation of the oil installations in Baiji last week.
Baiji is the second most important town recaptured from ISIS terrorists in Salahuddin over the past months as pro-government forces retook the provincial capital of Tikrit in late March after weeks of clashes with the terrorists. The liberation of Baiji is considered a catalyst to Iraq’s major offensive into Mosul, which serves as the capital of ISIS in Iraq.
Baiji has changed hands several times between Iraqi forces and ISIS terrorists since the terror group swept through Iraq in June last year after seizing swathes of land in neighboring Syria.
Since then, the Iraqi army, backed by fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units, has been engaged in heavy battles with the terrorists on several fronts in the terrorist-held areas, inflicting heavy losses on them.