Baghdad [Iraq], November 30 (ANI/Xinhua): A Katyusha rocket Sunday hit an oil refinery, causing a fire in Salahudin province north of Baghdad, a provincial police source said.

The incident took place in the evening when the rocket landed inside the al-Siniya refinery and set a huge fire without causing human casualties, Col. Mohammed al-Bazi told Xinhua.

Firefighters rushed to the scene to contain the fire of the refinery, which is located southwest of Iraq's largest oil refinery of Baiji, some 200 km north of Baghdad, al-Bazi said.

In a separate incident, al-Bazi said that five security members were wounded during an attack by militants of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group in the rugged area of Mteibijah in the eastern part of the province.

Mteibijah area has long been a redoubt of IS militants despite repeated anti-IS military operations in the sprawling rugged areas in the eastern part of Salahudin province, which extends to the neighboring Diyala province and the nearby Himreen mountainous area.

The two incidents came as the extremist IS militants have intensified their attacks on the security forces and civilians in the formerly IS-controlled Sunni provinces, resulting in the killing and wounding of dozens.

The security situation in Iraq has been improving since Iraqi security forces fully defeated the IS militants across the country late in 2017.

However, IS remnants have since melted in urban areas or deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians. (ANI/Xinhua)