IRAQ: Security tightens at Umm Qasr port after bombing

Record ID: 720921

  • Title: IRAQ: Security tightens at Umm Qasr port after bombing
  • Date: 28th August 2013
  • Summary: UMM QASR PORT, BASRA , IRAQ (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SHIPS DOCKED AT UMM QASR PORT IN SOUTHERN IRAQI PROVINCE OF BASRA IRAQI SOLDIERS SEARCHING TRUCK AND WAITING IN LONG QUEUE AT STREET LEADING TO ENTRANCE OF UMM QASR PORT IRAQI SOLDIERS SECURING LONG QUEUE OF TRUCKS VARIOUS OF IRAQI POLICEMAN WITH EXPLOSIVE DETECTION DEVICE SEARCHING TRUCKS SOLDIERS SEARCHING TRUC
  • Embargoed: 12th September 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAATX27NWBQ6C83OW37J9TLH7HQ
  • Story Text: Iraq has tightened its security measures in and around the port of Umm Qasr near the oil-exporting southern city of Basra following an attack by truck bomb last week.
    A truck bomb exploded at Iraq's main commodities port wounding four people on Saturday (August 17).
    Umm Qasr port, near Iraq's border with Kuwait, sits at the top of the strategic Gulf waterway and, while it does not export oil, it is vital in servicing the oil sector.
    Imports handled there include heavy equipment used in the energy industry as well as grain shipments.
    The head of the Marine engineers of Umm Qasr port, Safa al-Maliki explained the precautionary measures that were taken to tighten security at the site.
    "When the unfortunate incident happened in Um Qasr port, the high administration of ports in Iraq and Umm Qasr port, in coordination with security forces that are responsible for protecting the port, took a number of measures to tighten security and the search operations. We also changed some administrative procedures as a precautionary measure to prevent future incidents," said al-Maliki.
    The new security measures caused traffic congestion, forcing dozens of trucks to wait in long queues on roads leading to the port.
    But al-Maliki said the port would resume its normal activity in few days.
    "After the incident the port remained closed for a day. So there was a load of trucks stuck on the roads leading to the port and there was some confusion during the implementation of the precautionary measures but with time, may be two or three days, the port will operate as normal, God willing," he said.
    Ibrahim Sarhan, a representative of Gulftainer Company, which runs Umm Qasr port, hoped that the attack wouldn't cause disruption to vital trade.
    "Globally speaking, the insurance premium is increased when a port is subjected to threats, but with regard to Umm Qasr port this will depend on the outcomes of investigation that will be announced later and that hasn't been revealed to us yet, though we hope that the insurance premium will not increase because that would reduce the number of ships coming to Iraqi ports," he said.
    Iraq's economic infrastructure has been hit hard by frequent militant attacks.
    An oil export pipeline between Iraq and Turkey has been bombed about 30 times since the start of the year, the oil ministry said last week.
    Sunni Muslim militant groups, including al Qaeda, have stepped up their insurgency against Iraq's Shi'ite-led government in the past four months.
    At least 71 people were killed and 201 wounded in a series of bombings and other attacks across Baghdad on Wednesday (August 28), police and medical sources said, extending the worst wave of sectarian bloodshed in Iraq for at least five years.
    More than 1,000 Iraqis were killed in July, the highest monthly death toll since 2008, according to the United Nations.
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