Iraq retakes most of key refinery

Iraqi forces retook most of the country's largest refinery from Islamic State yesterday, security officials said, reversing gains by the militants who seized parts of the sprawling complex this week.

The insurgents attacked Iraq's Baiji refinery a week ago by blasting through the security perimeter around it and taking over several installations, including storage tanks.

A spokesman for Iraq's counterterrorism forces told Reuters troops protecting the refinery had now retaken most facilities, although there were still small pockets of insurgents left on the site.

Iraqi forces retook Baiji refinery from militants once before last November, but lost control of it again.