OREANDA-NEWS.   Militants from an al Qaeda splinter group who seized Iraq's second biggest city of Mosul this week have advanced into the oil refinery town of Baiji, setting the court house and police station on fire, security sources said.

The refinery is protected by around 250 guards, and security sources said the militants had sent a delegation of local tribal sheikhs to convince them to withdraw.

The sources said the guards agreed to pull out on condition they were transferred safely to another town.