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Islamic State fighters have captured the northern Iraqi town of Zumar and a nearby oilfield after a battle with Kurdish forces who had control of the area, witnesses say.Islamic State, which staged a lightning advance through northern Iraq in June, has warned residents of nearby villages along the border with Syria to leave their homes, suggesting they were planning an assault, the witnesses said yesterday. The group also siezed control of Wana, a town near Mosul Dam in nothern Iraq on yesterday, witnessed and a Kurdish official said
The armed group formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, controls a large expanse of northern and western Iraq, and has threatened to march on Baghdad but has stalled its campaign just north of the town of Samarra, 100km north of Baghdad.
But it has been trying to consolidate its gains, setting its sights on strategic towns near oilfields, as well as the border with Syria so that its fighters can move easily back and forth and bring in supplies.
An official in the Northern Oil Company said Islamic State fighters had taken control of the Ain Zalah oil field and a nearby refinery. The rebels had already seized four oil fields, which help fund their operations.
In a statement on its website, Islamic State said its fighters killed scores of Kurdish fighters in a 24-hour battle and then took over Zumar and 12 villages.
“Hundreds fled leaving vehicles and a huge number of weapons and munitions and the brothers control many areas,” Islamic State said, including Zumar and the area of Ain Zalah which is rich with oil.
Meanwhile, Islamist militants who kidnapped 49 Turks at a Turkish consulate in northern Iraq in June will likely free them in the next day or two, Turkey’s Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz said yesterday.
“We are pursuing contacts with all parties in Iraq. They [the hostages] may come back tomorrow or the day after tomorrow”, Yilmaz said, quoted by the Dogan news agency.
Yilmaz said Ankara had opted for dialogue with the hostage-takers after ruling out any military operaton that could endanger the hostages.
Online Reporter