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Iraq’s Prime Minister on Wednesday vowed to “face terrorism” on Wednesday, and insisted that his security forces suffered a “setback” and not a defeat, as militants continue to press on in their major offensive in which they most recently attacked the largest oil refinery in the country. They also seized 3 villages in northern Iraq, an Iraqi official said.
In a televised statement, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said, “We will face terrorism and bring down the conspiracy. We will teach (militants) a lesson and strike them.” Maliki added that Iraq’s security forces, which have wilted in a matter of days in the face of the militant offensive, have not been defeated yet; the offensive has seen parts of three provinces and an entirety of a province fall to the militants. The crisis in Iraq has displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians, and has threatened to split the country into several parts.
The militant assault on the Baiji oil refinery in the early hours of Wednesday will probably further scare international oil markets. The attack on Baiji oil refinery complex, in the province off Salaheddin to the north of Baghdad, was launched before dawn, a refinery employee and a senior government official said. Some of the tanks containing refined products reportedly caught fire in the attack, as a consequence of which security force personnel were injured. Lieutenant General Qassem Atta, Maliki’s security spokesman, would later say that security forces were able to repel the attack, and that 40 militants were killed in the battle. He, however, did not mention the number of casualties they had incurred.
The refinery was shut down on Tuesday after most employees were evacuated because of a drop in demand caused by the offensive. International oil producers have watched the unfolding chaos cautiously – Iraq currently exports about 2.5 million of oil every day. Industry experts, however, feel that Iraq’s vast crude oil supplies, which mostly lie in the southern part of the country, are currently safe.