Iraqi forces are battling Sunni rebels for control of the country's largest oil refinery as the government waits on a US response for air attacks to beat back a rebel advance threatening Baghdad.

Troops loyal to the Shia-led government on Thursday were holding off rebels and fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant at the sprawling Baiji oil refinery, some 200km north of the capital.

A government spokesman said early on Thursday that Iraqi forces were in "complete control", but a witness in Baiji said fighting was continuing.

The refinery was shut down on Tuesday after rebels launched their attack.

Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from Erbil, said the situation was fluid with both sides claiming control.

"Iraqi forces have gone on the offensive and according to Baghdad have pushed Sunni rebels back," she said.

Baiji lies in territory captured in the past week by the ISIL fighters and its Sunni allies, and is close to Tikrit.

The Iraqi government made a public request for US air strikes on Wednesday to thwart the assault.

The US has urged Maliki to reach out to Sunnis, many of whom feel excluded by the Shia parties that have dominated elections since Saddam Hussein was overthrown.

The secular Baath party, a political monopoly under Saddam, called on Iraqis to unite against Maliki.

"All the true, vibrant colours of our great Iraqi people must come together under one banner, against the American and Iranian conspiracies and their treacherous government under Maliki and their disgraceful sectarian and ethnic militias."

Iraq's neighbours have also urged political intervention as the only solution to heal the country's sectarian divisions.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, warned that US air strikes could lead to a high number of civilian deaths with "ISIL elements ... mixed in with the people".





Saudi Arabia's f oreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, instructed Maliki to f ollow the policy pursued by the kingdom to eradicate "terrorism".