Oil Pipelines to Turkey on fire

Additional reporting by By Subhy Haddad, IOL Correspondent

BAGHDAD, August 16 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Firefighters battled a blaze on Iraq's key oil pipeline to Turkey Saturday, August 16, as another U.S. soldier was wounded in an attack by resistance activists fighting the U.S.-led forces occupying their country.

"They have contained it (the fire) but are still fighting it," said Lieutenant Colonel Bill MacDonald of the Fourth Infantry Division.

The cause of the blaze on the Baiji pipeline, which broke out early Friday, was under investigation, he said, adding that engineers were seeking to bypass the burning section to keep the oil moving, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

However, it was not immediately clear if the oil was still flowing through the pipeline reopened just three days ago. It was shut down before the start in March of the U.S.-led invasion.

Sabotage and looting have since the war plagued Iraq's oil sector, with pipelines suffering crippling damage, while just 150 of 700 oil wells are in working order, officials have said.

Iraq began Wednesday to pump oil again through the pipeline running from its northern Kirkuk oilfields to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.

The town of Baiji is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Baghdad and is a vital hub in the network of oil pipelines which criss-cross Iraq.

But it also falls within the northern tip of the so-called Sunni Muslim triangle, a wedge of north-central Iraq known for its support of Saddam's ousted regime and attacks on U.S. troops.

Oil Exports To Jordan Halted

In a separately-related development, a leading Iraqi official said Saturday that the reason that caused the halt of Iraqi crude oil exports to Jordan was serious damage suffered by the export installations on the main pipeline carrying the crude to the neighboring country.

“The defaults at K3 and T1 pumping stations and the strategic oil pipeline have been seriously damaged due to the (US-led) war and acts of plunder inflected to those installations,” Executive Director of the Iraqi Oil Ministry, Thamir Ghadban told reporters.

The regime of Saddam had an agreement emphasizing Iraq’s supply of at least 5.5 million tons of crude oil to Jordan, half of it free of charge and the rest with comparatively low prices.

Ghadban said the annual agreement was signed between the governments of the two countries and “not with the Iraqi Oil Ministry!”  He did not elaborate.

Both governments have also signed a contract to extend the Iraqi oil pipeline from the Iraqi T1 Station to Al-Sear refinery east of Jordan, but the project was postponed due to the U.S.-British Iraq invasion early this year.

Fresh Attacks

U.S. forces come under daily attacks in Iraq

In the latest assault on coalition forces, a U.S. soldier was slightly wounded early Saturday when his patrol came under attack in a village near the town of Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, the U.S. army said.

"The soldier's convoy came under attack from a suspected IED (improvised explosive device), small arms fire and RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) just after midnight," said Lieutenant Colonel Bill MacDonald of the Fourth Infantry Division.

The patrol returned fire and a supporting helicopter fired missiles at the attackers, he said, adding that he had no reports of Iraqi casualties.

A witness said a U.S. army vehicle was destroyed in the attack in the village of Abara, but the army did not confirm this. The village was sealed off after the attack and U.S. troops conducted house-to-house searches, the witness who requested anonymity told AFP.

Baquba, 65 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of the capital, is home to both Sunni and Shiite Muslims, and has also been a regular battleground between U.S. troops and resistance fighters Washington claims linked to Saddam.

Shiites Warn U.S. Army

In Baghdad, Shiites in one of the city's poorest districts again warned the Americans that they will fight them if they resume patrols there.

Many residents of Baghdad's Sadr City district, an impoverished suburb that is home to about two million Shiites, said they would rise up if the U.S. military returned.

The U.S. army insisted Friday it would continue its security operations in the area, but residents and police said Saturday there had been no patrols since Wednesday.

On that day, an Iraqi was killed in clashes sparked when US troops in a helicopter removed a religious flag from a communications tower in the northeast Baghdad suburb, which like much of the capital is awash with weapons.

"We have weapons, we have our RPGs ready," Firas Temimi, a 30-year-old shopkeeper, said Saturday.

On Friday, more than 10,000 faithful gathered under the tower for special weekly prayers to denounce the perceived U.S. army assault on their cherished faith.

"If the office says hit them, we will hit them," Falah Allawi, a 26-year-old unemployed man, said Saturday, referring to the office of firebrand anti-occupation cleric Moqtada Sadr.

An American soldier, who asked not to be named, at a U.S. base on the edge of the district formerly known as Saddam City, said all patrols there had been cancelled.

At Friday's prayers in Sadr City, Sheikh Abdul Hadi al-Daraji told his congregation that he rejected a U.S. apology for the helicopter incident and warned that the area could explode if American troops returned.

Daraji is close to Moqtada Sadr, one of the most outspoken voices of Shiite protest against the occupation. Sadr is arguably the most influential figure in Sadr City, but has no such authority in the wider Shiite community in Iraq.