World

Rebels Bomb Iraq Oil Well

March 26, 2004 / 4:10 PM EST / CBS/AP

Insurgents bombed an oil well in northern Iraq, sparking a fire that raged for 24 hours before being extinguished, a senior Iraqi security official said. West of Baghdad, U.S. Marines and gunmen fought an hour-long battle Friday that left four Iraqis dead and six wounded, a doctor said.

The fighting occurred in the town of Fallujah in the so-called Sunni Triangle, where support for Saddam Hussein was strong and rebels often carry out attacks against American forces.

Witnesses said heavy gunfire and explosions were heard when Marines moved into the center of the city. American troops rarely venture into downtown Fallujah, one of the most dangerous areas in Iraq for the U.S. military.

After the battle, Marines patrolled on foot. The city was largely deserted with shops shuttered and residents staying indoors. U.S. troops blocked the city's entrance.

Diyaa al-Jumailee, a doctor at Fallujah hospital, said four Iraqis were killed and six wounded. A U.S. military spokeswomen in Baghdad said she had no information on the clash.

This week, Marines took over authority in the area from the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division.

In other developments:

A U.S. soldier died and two others were wounded Thursday when a homemade bomb exploded near Baqouba, the American military said. The two injured soldiers were in stable condition. Nearly 600 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq a year ago, according to the U.S. Defense Department.

U.S. soldiers headed for Iraq are still buying their own body armor – and in many cases, their families are buying it for them – despite assurances from the military that the gear will be in hand before they're in harm's way. Body armor distributors have received steady inquiries from soldiers and families about purchasing the gear, which can cost several thousand dollars.

The U.S. Army said Thursday it is taking steps to ensure that soldiers in Iraq and Kuwait have better access to psychologists and other mental health professionals after a spike in suicides last summer. At least 23 soldiers in Iraq and Kuwait killed themselves last year. An additional three cases remain under investigation as possible suicides. Army officials have reported one suicide this year.

Shockwaves continue from Spain's threat to pull out troops. An Australian opposition party has angered Washington by saying it wants to pull troops out by Christmas. Germany's chancellor says American politicians are wrong to fault Spain for electing an antiwar party in the wake of the March 11 terrorist bombings. But Spain's incoming prime minister is seeing encouraging signs of a U.N. vote on Iraq that might let him keep Spanish troops there, says an official in his party.

China's President Hu Jintao met Thursday with the head of the Iraqi Governing Council to talk over the battered nation's political situation and Chinese support for reconstruction efforts. China opposed the U.S. attack on Iraq and has no plans to send troops. However, Beijing has made no secret of its eagerness to be commercially involved in Iraq's reconstruction.

The blast on the Northern Oil Company well in the Khabaz area, about 55 miles west of Kirkuk, occurred Wednesday night, said Gen. Mohammed Amin, the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps chief in Kirkuk. The fire was extinguished late Thursday.

The well was not being tapped at the time of the blast and was not closely guarded, he said.

"This is a terrorist act. This is the first time an oil well has come under attack in Kirkuk," Amin said.

He accused remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime of being behind the attack, but offered no proof. The attack "is a sign that some strategic locations will be attacked. So, we are going to tighten security on places that are considered national resources."

Kirkuk is one of Iraq's main oil producing regions. Rebels have targeted the oil industry in the country's north and south, blowing up pipelines, killing oil workers and firing rockets at the oil ministry building in Baghdad.

A pipeline in the southern Basra oil facilities was also on fire Friday, an official from Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization said. Crude exports from the region were not affected, he said. It was not clear what caused the fire.

Oil is Iraq's most valuable export, and the country must sell more to pay for rebuilding an economy shattered by wars, sanctions and misrule. Confronted with political tensions and terror attacks, Iraq's Governing Council and its American backers recognize that rising oil revenues are essential to the creation of jobs and social stability.

Rebels have also targeted Iraqi police and some 350 U.S.-trained officers have been killed in the past year, the U.S. military said. Attacks are expected to increase before the coalition hands over sovereignty on June 30.

This week, rebels killed two police who were twin brothers, a provincial police chief and nine police recruits, shot dead in an ambush of their vehicle.

Guerrillas view them as collaborators with the U.S.-led occupation, and they often make easier targets because they are less well-armed and protected than the U.S. troops who sometimes accompany them on patrols.

Insurgents "know that police are the authority, force and law, and for this reason they carry out these acts," said Nouri Jaber al-Nouri, inspector general of the Interior Ministry.

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the U.S. military's deputy director of operations, said the killings were "clearly a program of intimidation and targeting of not only the Iraqi police service, but all Iraqi government officials."