Iraq forces beat back fresh militant assault

BAGHDAD, July 12 (AFP): Iraqi forces and tribal fighters Saturday beat back a fresh assault by Sunni militants on the town of Haditha, strategic for the large nearby dam and its oil refinery, police said.

Battles also erupted Saturday in the central province of Diyala as security forces fought back against militants who have seized swathes of territory and a string of towns and cities in an offensive launched on June 9.

The violence comes a day before Iraq's deeply-divided politicians are to hold a parliament session aimed at reviving flagging efforts to form a government in the face of the jihadist-led onslaught.

The attack on Haditha, located northwest of Baghdad in Anbar province on the road linking militant-held western areas and the provincial capital, began with mortar fire, police said.

Gunmen travelling in vehicles, including some captured from security forces, then attacked from two sides but were kept from entering the town in fighting that left 13 militants and four police dead, officers and a doctor said.

While there have been previous attacks on Haditha, they have not been on this scale. Capture of the dam by the militants would raise the prospect of it being used to flood towns and villages downstream.

Militants earlier this year caused major flooding by releasing water from another dam in Anbar province.

In Diyala province, meanwhile, security forces and civilian volunteers Saturday launched a push to retake militant-held areas north of Muqdadiyah, a town on a main road to provincial capital Baquba, a police captain said.