BAGHDAD ( Sunni Militants Take 3 More Towns in Iraq )

BAGHDAD – Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters have taken three more towns in Al Anbar province, their stronghold in western Iraq, a military spokesman said Sunday.

Army troops had to pull out of Rawah, Qaim and Anah, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta said in a press conference.

The decision was made to carry out a tactical withdrawal to “mobilize and reactivate the military units in strong areas and guarantee more effective control,” Atta said.

Qaim, one of three posts on the Iraq-Syria border, fell to the jihadists on Saturday night, but officials had not confirmed the town’s fall until now.

Sunni insurgents have been fighting the army in Al Anbar since January, when they took Fallujah and a section of Ramadi, the two biggest cities in the province.

Security forces members are still in Tal Afar, a town in Nineveh province, and repulsed several insurgent attacks, the army spokesman said.

The security forces also stopped an attack on the Baiji refinery, Iraq’s largest petroleum processing complex, which is under the control of troops loyal to the government in Baghdad, Atta said.

The refinery in Saladin province, located north of Baghdad, and Tal Afar were at the center of fighting last week between government forces and the insurgents.

Tal Afar is located between Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the capital of Nineveh province, and the border with Syria.

The security forces, meanwhile, killed 42 ISIS fighters and destroyed 13 vehicles in operations east of Tikrit, the capital of Saladin province, the army spokesman said.

Ten other jihadists were killed in the northern part of Babil province, Atta said.

ISIS is leading the Sunni insurgency spreading across Iraq.