Attacks on Iraq gas facility, oil field kill five by Staff Writers Kirkuk, Iraq (AFP) July 31, 2016 Militants assaulted a gas facility and a nearby oil field in north Iraq on Sunday, killing five people in rare attacks inside Kurdish-controlled areas of Kirkuk province, officials said. Gunmen travelling on motorbikes opened fire on the gas facility's guards, then killed four of its employees and planted multiple bombs before escaping, officials from Iraq's North Oil Company and the Kurdish peshmerga forces said. Militants also attacked the nearby Bai Hassan oil field, the largest in oil-rich Kirkuk province, killing an engineer and sparking a major fire, officials said. A colonel in the peshmerga said that security forces killed two suicide bombers at the field while a third detonated explosives, setting oil tanks ablaze, and a fourth was still at large. Police Brigadier General Sarhad Qader confirmed that three bombers were dead. The attack killed an engineer and wounded seven other people, according to the peshmerga colonel and a police officer of the same rank. The jihadist-linked Amaq agency, which often carries claims of Islamic State group attacks, said that the assault on Bai Hassan had taken place, but did not attribute it to IS. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the assault on the gas facility, and while it may have been carried out by IS, it is more common for the group's militants to fight to the death in such attacks. Forces from Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region control part of Kirkuk, while IS also holds territory in the province. The jihadist group overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, sweeping Iraqi security forces aside, though they have since regained significant ground from IS. After federal forces retreated, Kurdish troops gained or solidified control over a swathe of northern territory that is claimed by both Baghdad and Kurdistan. Both Baghdad's forces and Kurdish troops are battling the jihadists, but they have fought largely independent wars so far. That will need to change during the battle for Mosul, Iraq's second city located northwest of Kirkuk, as the operation is expected to require both federal and Kurdish forces to take part.
Related Links All About Oil and Gas News at OilGasDaily.com
|
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us. |