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Asia
Iraq
Jun 12, 2014 The military attacked fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Saddam’s former hometown of Tikrit, about eighty miles (one hundred thirty kilometers) north of Baghdad The advance of ISIL fighters has rattled oil futures and markets in both Iraq and Turkey. Brent crude oil rose to the highest since the start of March and West Texas Intermediate to an eight-month high amid the violence. Kurdish authorities, who control the territory to the east of Mosul, have fortified defenses around their borders and also dispatched their armed forces to take control of Kirkuk, home to the biggest northern oilfield - the semi-autonomous Kurdish government said on its website. There were conflicting reports from Baiji, a town north of Baghdad that’s home to the nation’s largest refinery. ISIL rose to prominence as one of the mostly Sunni groups fighting to topple Syria’s President Assad, and has used the desert areas of western Iraq as secure bases for its fighters. (Source: Bloomberg): http://tinyurl.com/l973yzn
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