Iraqi troops retake key oil refinery Beiji from ISIS

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Iraqi government troops backed by Shiite militia fighters have driven out Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants from a key oil refinery north of Baghdad, AP reported officials as saying on Friday. The Beiji refinery and nearby Siniya town were retaken, the Joint Military Command said, without giving details of the wide-scale military operation. The refinery, Iraq’s largest, has been idle since June last year. It remained contested after the town of Beiji, about 250km north of Baghdad, fell to IS during its blitz across northern Iraq a year ago. The town lies on the road to IS-held Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city.