- Title: IRAQ: Baghdad refinery ablaze; people of Hilla mourn death of police chief
- Date: 10th December 2007
- Summary: (BN06) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (DECEMBER 10, 2007) (REUTERS): PLUME OF SMOKE IN SKY MORE OF SMOKE CLOUD PLUME OF THICK BLACK SMOKE BILLOWING FROM REFINERY MORE OF PULE OF THICK BLACK SMOKE DORA OIL REFINERY FUME OF BLACK SMOKE BILLOWING FROM REFINERY COLUMN OF BLACK SMOKE
- Embargoed: 25th December 2007 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Iraq
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Energy
- Reuters ID: LVA3UTIDKD9O9GA734UXVI71TKIL
- Story Text: A rocket attack has sparked a big fire at a domestic oil refinery in southern Baghdad, but the plant is still operating, Iraqi police and officials said.
Firemen were fighting Monday's (December 10) blaze, which broke out in a storage tank for refined crude at the Doura refinery, sending a large plume of smoke into the sky.
Police said the blaze was set off when a Katyusha rocket hit the facility at about 6.00 a.m. (0300 GMT). There were no reports of any casualties.
Rockets also hit the Karrada district in central Baghdad and the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses the Iraqi parliament, the U.S.
embassy and many government buildings, police said.
The Doura refinery receives crude from Iraq's north and south to supply refined oil products to Baghdad.
The people of Hilla city mourned on Sunday (december 9) the death of its police chief who was killed by a roadside bomb attack on his convoy in the predominantly Shi'ite province south of Baghdad.
Firing into the air, relatives and the large crowd of the city's people including women took part in the funeral of Major-General Qais al-Mamouri marching through the streets of the city behind pallbearers carrying Mamouri's coffin draped by the Iraqi flag.
The attack on Mamouri's convoy follows a threat by an al Qaeda-linked group to carry out car bomb attacks and strikes on Iraqi security forces and neighbourhood security patrols working with U.S. soldiers.
The attack took place hours after U.S. military commanders had publicly praised his efforts to secure his region.
It also comes at a time when tensions are high between rival Shi'ite groups in the oil producing south of the country. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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