Rockets hit oil industry district in southern Iraq, no casualties

Rockets hit oil industry district in southern Iraq, no casualties
April 6, 2020, 7:33 am

Iraqi labourers work at an oil refinery in the southern town Nasiriyah. (File photo AFP)

Rockets landed near a district that houses foreign workers in Iraq’s oil industry early on Monday but caused no damage or casualties, oil and police sources said.

Police said the three Katyusha rockets, launched at around 3 a.m. local time, hit the Burjesia residential and operations headquarters west of Iraq’s main southern city Basra.

The district houses foreign oil workers and offices of both foreign and Iraqi oil companies but has been largely empty in recent weeks because of the evacuation of nearly all foreign personnel due to the coronavirus crisis.

Two officials with state-run Basra Oil Co. (BOC), which oversees oil operation in the south, said the attack had not affected production and export operations. Police sources said they found a rocket launcher and some unused rockets in a nearby farmland area.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket attack and police said they deployed additional forces to carry out search operations in the area.

source: Reuters

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