Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition forces have successfully ousted ISIS from the nation’s largest oil refinery, the coalition said Sunday.
Iraqi security forces regained full control of the Baiji refinery, the Combined Joint Task Force said.
A week ago, ISIS claimed it controlled part of the facility, posting images online that purported to back up the claim.
Iraq is working to fortify the facility’s defenses, the task force said in a statement.
Over the past nine days, the coalition conducted 47 airstrikes in the area, the statement said.
Meanwhile, Peshmerga forces — also with the assistance of coalition strikes — cleared 84 square kilometers (32 square miles) of ISIS-occupied territory in Iraq on Saturday, the Kurdistan Region Security Council said. The Peshmerga are the national military force of Kurdistan.
“Front-line reporting indicates at least 35 ISIS terrorists were killed during the offensive,” the council said in a statement.
The goal was to push back ISIS and “diminish its ability to threaten the security of Kirkuk province,” the statement said.
“This success follows an offensive south and west of Kirkuk” last month in which 100 square kilometers (39 square miles) of terrain was cleared, the council said.