Iraqi fighters attacked pipelines and an oil storage depot in three parts of the country, setting fires that blazed for hours and lost millions of gallons of oil, officials and media reported Sunday, as the country faced a critical fuel shortage.
Iraqis firing rocket-propelled grenades hit storage tanks in southern Baghdad on Saturday, creating fires that burned 2.6 million gallons of gasoline, said Issam Jihad, a spokesman for the Oil Ministry.
Also Saturday, according to The AP, a pipeline exploded in the al-Mashahda area some 25 kilometers north of Baghdad, in what Jihad called "an act of sabotage." "The explosion led to the destruction of (part of) the pipeline and to the leakage of vast quantities of oil products," Jihad said, according to The AP.
The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television reported Sunday that large fires were burning following attacks Saturday on four pipelines in the area between Tikrit and Beji. The TV quoted officials as saying those fires were caused by saboteurs.
The Oil Ministry introduced rationing on Thursday to overcome shortages that have created long lines of cars at gas stations and waits up to 12 hours. At the same time the U.S. military began to crack down on black marketeers who sell gas for as much as $1.85 a gallon. The official price equates to 5 U.S. cents a gallon. (Albawaba.com)
