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Iraq fully retakes badly damaged fields

Early assessments are dire after IS militants sabotaged Ajil and Hamrin as they fled an onslaught by pro-government forces.
Smoke billows during clashes between Iraqi army forces, supported by Shiite militias, against IS militants near Tikrit on March 9, 2015. (ALI MOHAMMED/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Pro-government forces have regained control of the Ajil and Hamrin oil fields, but militants from the so-called Islamic State (IS) group set fire to more than a dozen wells as they retreated.

"The blowout of the wells took place sequentially," said a senior official from the state-run North Oil Company (NOC), which officially operates the fields. "IS bombed 11 oil wells at Hamrin, another seven wells at Ajil. All are burning."

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