Seventeen killed in battles near Iraq's Baiji refinery

Senior regional security officer says twelve militants, two soldiers and three members of Shi'ite militias were killed

BAGHDAD: Seventeen people were killed in Iraq on Monday in clashes between Islamic State militants and pro-government forces in a town close to the country's biggest refinery, a focal point in efforts to counter the ultra-hardline Sunni group.

The refinery beside the town of Baiji has changed hands before, reflecting the Iraqi army's struggle to hold territory it recaptures after months of clashes.

Fighting on Monday took place on a road used by Islamic State for supply lines leading from Baiji to the nearby town of Siniya to the west.

Twelve militants, two government soldiers and three members of Shi'ite militias that provide vital support for the army were killed, a senior regional security official said.

Siniya is held by Islamic State, which controls a third of Iraq, as well as parts of neighbouring Syria.

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The group, which also holds territory in Libya and has sympathisers in Egypt, highlights the spread of Islamist militancy since the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings that toppled veteran autocrats who had repressed hardline groups.

Iraq's government hoped to gain significant momentum after the army and its Shi'ite militia allies seized back Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit in April after a month-long battle.

But the Shi'ite-led government faced a setback last month when Islamic State captured Ramadi, provincial capital of Anbar Province, the country's Sunni heartland.

Iraq's army, which has largely proven ineffective against the insurgents, relies heavily on Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias as well as on US-led air strikes to slow the momentum of Islamic State.

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The group has used beheadings and executions, sometimes videotaped, to strike fear into residents of areas it captures to try to create a self-sustaining caliphate and redraw the map of the Middle East.

Islamic State's territorial advances and ambitions have exacerbated a sectarian conflict in Iraq, which is still struggling to find stability four years after the withdrawal of the last US troops.