IRAQ: SPOKESMAN SAYS BLAZING OIL PIPELINE IN KIRKUK WILL BE OUT OF ACTION FOR AT LEAST TEN DAYS/ CIVILIAN SECURITY FORCE BUILDING ATTACKED.
Record ID:
344870
IRAQ: SPOKESMAN SAYS BLAZING OIL PIPELINE IN KIRKUK WILL BE OUT OF ACTION FOR AT LEAST TEN DAYS/ CIVILIAN SECURITY FORCE BUILDING ATTACKED.
- Title: IRAQ: SPOKESMAN SAYS BLAZING OIL PIPELINE IN KIRKUK WILL BE OUT OF ACTION FOR AT LEAST TEN DAYS/ CIVILIAN SECURITY FORCE BUILDING ATTACKED.
- Date: 17th August 2003
- Summary: (U3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AUGUST 17, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. IRAQ'S U.S. CIVIL ADMINISTRATOR PAUL BREMER AND MAREK BELKA, CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL OF INTERNATIONAL COORDINATION CIC ENTERING HALL 2. REPRESENTATIVES OF MEMBER STATES 3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BREMER SAYING "First of all it is quite clear, the reconstruction must take place against the ba
- Embargoed: 1st September 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAGHDAD, MOSUL, AL-ABARA, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVAFK2PI19N1HGLA3ZCV2ZC2AVM
- Story Text: A coalition's spokesman has said that it would take
at least ten days before the Kirkuk oil pipeline which was
set ablaze two days ago, was back in working order.
Iraq's U.S civil administrator Paul Bremer, speaking
at a welcoming ceremony for the chairman of the Council for
International Co-ordination (CIC) Marek Belka on Sunday
(August 17), said that the recent attack on the Kirkuk oil
pipe line will come at a huge cost to the Iraqi people and
the economy of the country.
"Iraq will find itself the core because of
mismanagement of Iraqi economy for decades and great cost
for the Iraqi people at the political sabotage which
continues in Iraq including the attack on Kirkuk oil
pipe
line two days ago which will cost 7 million dollars a
day to the Iraqi people."
The newly reopened pipeline from northern Iraq to
Turkey has been shut down after a fire that officials
blamed on a bomb attack.
A coalition's spokesman said that it would be ten to 14
days before the pipeline was back in working order.
"Different reports we have seen have been anywhere 10
days to two weeks but they still going to find out what
needs to get done." Shields said.
Several other technical hitches have also crippled the
line just days after the crude started flowing again from
Iraq's northern fields following the war that toppled
Saddam Hussein.
The coalition forces public affairs officer explained
why: "Clearly protecting Iraq's oil facilities against
attack is a major priority, something that is very very
important because production of oil in this country is very
essential and not only for producing some income for the
country to be able to spent on reconstruction and on
services but also to meet domestic demand of basic fuels."
Saboteurs have been blamed for a spate of fires and
explosions along the pipeline, which had begun moving crude
from Iraq's northern Kirkuk oilfields on Wednesday (August
13) for the first time since U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam
Hussein on April 9.
U.S. military commanders blame attacks on their troops
and key parts of Iraq's infrastructure mainly on die-hard
Saddam loyalists but say there is also evidence of foreign
militants coming to the country to target Americans.
Iraqi police and security guards have also come under
attack from anti-U.S. fighters who accuse them of
collaborating with occupying troops.
In the northern city of Mosul, the headquarters of an
Iraqi civilian security force was attacked with machine-gun
fire and a rocket-propelled grenade on Saturday (August 16)
afternoon.
One of the security guards was killed and four were
wounded, their colleagues told Reuters. The security force
was set up to help guard hospitals, schools and other
facilities.
Meanwhile, a fire, believed to have been cause by
sabotage, engulfed a sewage centre in Saydiya, near
Baghdad. Firemen were able to extinguish it shortly after
it broke out.
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