Iraqi forces say most of Baiji town recaptured from IS.
Iraqi forces have cleared Islamic State militants from most of the northern town of Baiji and aim to drive them completely from the nearby oil refinery within days, a spokesman for the Shiite militias leading the fight has said.
Islamic State fighters swept into Baiji, about 190 kilometres north of Baghdad during their lightning-quick takeover of Iraq's Sunni Muslim provinces last year.
The town and refinery — the country's largest — have been battlefronts since.
If the Shiite militias and Iraqi security forces regain full control around Baiji, it will facilitate a further push north towards the Islamic State-held city of Mosul, whose takeover by IS marked a tipping point in the fight last year.
Ahmed al-Asadi, a Shiite spokesman, said there still remained "pockets of resistance" to the north-east and north-west of the town, and Islamic State fighters have been trying to launch attacks in response from Siniya, a small village five kilometres to the west.
"I can say that over 90 per cent of [Baiji] has been cleared and the remaining areas will be done in the coming hours," Mr al-Asadi told a news conference in Baghdad.
origina post found herhttp://www.abc.net.au/news/2
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