A security source in Salah al-Din Governorate, north of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, stated that a fire broke out in an oil refinery in the north of the province as a result of the fall of an unknown Katyusha missile.
Colonel Muhammad Khalil Al-Bazi, from the Salah al-Din Governorate Police Command, told Xinhua that an unknown-source Katyusha missile landed this evening (Sunday) in one of the filtering units in the "Al-Sinaiyah Refinery" in Baiji city (30 km) north of Tikrit, the provincial center , Resulting in a fire, but no casualties.
Colonel Al-Bazi said that rescue teams are continuing their efforts to extinguish the fire.
On the other hand, Al-Bazi stated that five members of the Iraqi security forces, including two officers, were wounded in an attack by Islamic State (ISIS) militants targeting them in the Mutaybijah area, southeast of Tikrit.
He added that the security forces began a search operation to track down the militants in the area.
Mutaybija is located on the administrative borders between the governorates of Salah al-Din and Diyala, and it is a difficult geographical area, where valleys and water bodies are spread in addition to dense vegetation, which facilitates the hide and movement of militants in it, and from it to attack the security forces´ sites and nearby residential villages.
On December 9, 2017, Iraq announced the expulsion of the extremist organization and imposing full control over all Iraqi lands, including the border with Syria, but ISIS sleeper cells are still operating in several areas of the country, while Iraqi forces continue their operations to track down these cells.
