28 killed in bomb attacks, clashes with IS in Iraq

A total of 28 people were killed and over 29 others wounded on Monday in bomb attacks and clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants across Iraq, security sources said.

In Anbar province, IS militants seized an abandoned industrial facility and a nearby railway station after heavy clashes with Iraqi forces near the IS-held town of Garma, just east of the city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of the capital of Baghdad, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The battles resulted in the death of 13 soldiers and allied Shiite militiamen, while 10 IS militants were killed and 18 others wounded, the source said, without giving further details.

On Thursday, security forces and allied militias surrounded Garma, as fierce clashes with IS militants continued.

Also in Anbar, mortar barrage by Iraqi army hit two districts in the IS-controlled city of Fallujah, leaving three killed and five others injured, the source added.

IS militants have seized much of Iraq's largest province of Anbar and tried to advance toward Baghdad, but several counter attacks by security forces and Shiite militias have pushed them back.

In Iraq's northern province of Kirkuk, a roadside bomb went off near a displaced family of eight members at a village near the town of Rashad, some 35 km south of the provincial capital city of Kirkuk, some 250 km north of Baghdad, killing two women and wounding six others, including their parents, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

In Salahudin province, IS militants managed to capture much of a vast oil refinery north of the town of Baiji, though fierce battles were continuing with government troops and allied Shiite and Sunni militias in the remaining parts of the refinery, a provincial security source told Xinhua.

Months of bloody clashes at the refinery have heavily damaged oil installations and related buildings in an area spanning some 20 square km, with fires raging and huge columns of smoke visible from far away.

Since March 2, around 30,000 Iraqi troops and thousands of allied Shiite and Sunni militias have been involved in Iraq's biggest offensive against IS militants to recapture the northern part of Salahudin.

The security situation in Iraq has drastically deteriorated since last June, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and IS militants. Enditem