Three boats explode at Iraqi oil terminal

[LeahMira]

The blasts on Saturday evening, appear to be coordinated human bomb attacks, Captain Hisham H Halawi said.  There was no immediate word on casualties or damage from the blasts, he added.

It was the first known maritime attack on Iraqi oil facilities since the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. Resistance fighters have been attacking pipelines in the north and south of Iraq, at times disrupting the export of oil.

The first blast came when an occupation warship patrolling the Gulf sighted a small boat near an oil platform, Halawi said. The warship sent a team to the boat, but when they boarded it, the boat exploded, he said.

The other boats exploded alongside two oil tankers near the Abbott oil facility south of Iraq's main port, Umm Qasr, he said.
 
The oil attacks came three days after near simultaneous car bombings in the southern Iraqi city of Basra - 50 km from Umm Qasr - that killed 74 people. 

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