REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BAGHDAD -- Iraqi security forces on Sunday continued their battles against the Islamic State (IS/ISIS) militants in the provinces of Salahudin and Anbar, as the UN warned of catastrophic impact on many thousands of people who fled their homes, security sources and a UN statement said.

In Salahudin province, the security forces and allied Shiite and Sunni militias backed by Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition aircraft continued their fighting for the second day to free western part of the town of Baiji, after the troops managed on Saturday to free the eastern and the central parts of the town, a provincial security source said.

In Iraq's largest oil refinery near Baiji, the troops continued their clearing operation in the vast refinery and found 53 bodies of IS militants who were killed in the battles to liberate the refinery during the past few days, the source said.

Sporadic clashes occurred during the day in the refinery with some IS fighters who were hiding in some buildings inside the refinery, the source added.

On Saturday, Jasim Jbara, head of the security committee of Salahudin provincial council, told Xinhua that the Iraqi forces "have completely liberated the vast oil refinery of Baiji after they drove out the IS militants."

The battles of the oil refinery and the nearby Baiji were part of a large-scale operation launched Wednesday aiming to recapture areas seized by IS militants in Salahudin, particularly after the militants progressed inside the huge oil facility on Tuesday.

The battles came more than two weeks after Iraqi security forces regained control of the provincial capital city of Tikrit.

In Anbar province, the security forces and local Sunni tribesmen backed by Iraqi and international aircrafts clashed with IS militants in the city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, and managed to free part of the eastern suburb of Soufiyah after killing many of the extremist militants, a provincial security source anonymously told Xinhua.

The security situation in Ramadi deteriorated a week ago when IS militants carried out attacks and captured Albu Farraj area in northern side of Euphrates River, which separate the area from the city of Ramadi.

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