DHAKA: Islamist-led militants and pro-government forces are engaged in fierce battles for the Baiji oil refinery and Tal Afar airport in northern Iraq.

Baiji, Iraq’s biggest refinery, is surrounded by the rebels, who say they have seized most of Tal Afar airport, reports the BBC.

The fighting comes a day after the US said it would send some 300 military advisers to help the fight against the insurgents.

US President Barack Obama stressed that US troops would not fight in Iraq.

US Secretary of State Kerry is expected to travel to Iraq soon to press for a more representative cabinet, hoping this could ease tensions between the country’s rival Muslim sects.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has been accused of pursuing anti-Sunni policies, pushing some Sunni militants to join the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), which has made rapid advances in recent days.

About 500,000 people have fled their homes in the country’s second-largest city, Mosul, which ISIS captured last week.

Drawn from America’s special forces, the military advisers will set up joint command centres with the Iraqi military in Baghdad and in the north. But they will also go out into the field.

Senior administration officials have said that they are not at the stage of preparing air strikes, adding that they will be discreet and targeted if they come. They have also indicated that ISIS militants could come under American fire over the border in Syria.

The US says it does not believe the site contains any material that the insurgents could use to make chemical weapons.

But state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: “We remain concerned about the seizure of any military site by” ISIS.

BDST: 1525 HRS, JUNE 20, 2014