IRAQ: AT LEAST THREE POLICE OFFICERS WOUNDED IN GUN BATTLE AFTER CAR BOMB EXPLOSION/OIL PIPELINE SET ON FIRE BY MORTAR
Record ID:
230550
IRAQ: AT LEAST THREE POLICE OFFICERS WOUNDED IN GUN BATTLE AFTER CAR BOMB EXPLOSION/OIL PIPELINE SET ON FIRE BY MORTAR
- Title: IRAQ: AT LEAST THREE POLICE OFFICERS WOUNDED IN GUN BATTLE AFTER CAR BOMB EXPLOSION/OIL PIPELINE SET ON FIRE BY MORTAR
- Date: 12th February 2005
- Summary: (BN12) SALMAN PAK, SOUTHEAST OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ (FEBRUARY 10, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. SLV SITE WHERE CAR BOMB EXPLODED; PARTS OF EXPLODED CAR ON ROAD (5 SHOTS) 0.26 2. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic), EYEWITNESS, SAYING: "A car bomb detonated here targeting an Iraqi police convoy, the police opened fire randomly and we took shelter inside shops and they came and arrested us saying that we know the attackers, we said that if we had known before we would not come here." 0.45 3. MV GROUP OF SUSPECTS WITH TIED HANDS IN PICK-UP TRUCK; SLV POLICE NEAR PICK-UP TRUCK/AUDIO OF GUNFIRE; SLV POLICE AND POLICE CARS AT SCENE (5 SHOTS) 1.20 (BN12) AL FATHA AREA, BAIJI, IRAQ (FEBRUARY 10, 2005) (REUTERS) 4. LV /SLV PIPELINE ON FIRE; FLAMES; SLV OIL FACILITIES / PIPELINE ON FIRE 1.47 5. SLV PIPELINE ON FIRE/ SECURITY MEMBERS WATCHING FROM BEHIND FENCE 1.52 6. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic), GAITH AHMED HASSAN, SAYING "The pipeline is a gas pipeline linking Baiji refinery to Kirkuk refinery and from there to Turkey. It blew up at nearly 2.00 to 02.30 a.m. (local time) The pipeline is leaking gas and mortars landed near it." 2.14 7. SLV BAIJI REFINERY 2.18 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 27th February 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SALMAN PAK AND BAIJI, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA2R2RACVLB4Q39CUMZUHE18SWK
- Story Text: At least three police officers were wounded in gun
battle after car bomb explosion southeast of Baghdad.
Meanwhile vital pipeline is set on fire by a mortar.
A car bomb detonated near a police checkpoint southeast
of Baghdad on Thursday (February 10, 2005), causing no
casualties.
The explosion took place near the town of Salman Pak,
20 miles (38 km) southeast of Baghdad. After the explosion
police raided a nearby area in search of the attackers,
detaining a number of suspects.
A gun battle ensued after the raid between the police
and the insurgents, wounding three officers, police said.
"A car bomb detonated here targeting an Iraqi police
convoy, the police opened fire randomly and we took shelter
inside shops and they came and arrested us saying that we
know the attackers, we said that if we had known before we
would not come here," said a man who was nearby at the time
of the explosion.
Meanwhile in Baiji, a gas pipeline linking Iraq's
northern oil hub of Kirkuk to the Baiji refinery was
damaged by a mortar on Thursday (February 10), a source at
the North Oil Company said.
The source said that the attack on the gas pipeline
near Al-Fatha, 90 kilometres (55 miles) southwest of Kirkuk
caused a reduction in the production of gas.
"The pipeline is a gas pipeline linking Baiji refinery
to Kirkuk refinery and from there to Turkey. It blew up at
nearly 2.00 to 02.30 a.m. (local time) The pipeline is
leaking gas and mortars landed near it," said Gaith Ahmed
Hassan, member of the oil security force.
The pipeline was the third to be attacked in two days.
On Tuesday (February 8) a gas pipeline in the same area was
set ablaze after being attacked by a rocket, while a day
before insurgents had launched a similar attack in the same
area, blowing up a section of a domestic oil pipeline running
from the 350,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Baiji
refinery, which is key to much of Baghdad's power supply to
Baghdad's Dora Refinery.
Baiji, 112 miles (180 km) north of Baghdad is home to
Iraq's biggest refinery. A pipeline network that includes
the Iraq-Turkey export pipeline passes near the Sunni
Muslim city.
Attacks against northern oil facilities have escalated
in the last two months, cutting off exports to Turkey's
Ceyhan port and helping deepen a fuel and electricity
crisis.
Security officials said they were trying to beef-up
protection of the pipeline system after insurgents
threatened a newly formed protection force recruited from
tribes in the area.
The cluster of pipelines, a crucial source of power for
the capital, has been targeted by relentless attacks by
insurgents, which in consequence slows the country's
recovery down.
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