SUICIDE SPEEDBOAT ATTACKS - Just Breaking! (Three Boats Exploded)

SKY NEWS ^ | 4/24/04

[areafiftyone]

Three suspected suicide speedboats have launched attacks on Iraq's key Basra offshore oil terminal.

The boats exploded near an oil platform and two oil tankers off southern Iraq.

The first blast came when a Coalition warship patrolling the Gulf sighted a small boat near an oil platform.

The warship sent a team to the boat, but when they boarded it, the vessel exploded.

The other boats exploded alongside two oil tankers near the Abbott oil facility south of Iraq's main port, Umm Qasr.

The extent of the damage or casualties is not known.

Iraq is completely dependent on the Basra terminal to export around 1.9 million barrels of oil every day.

Officials at Iraq's Southern Oil Company said the terminal had been shut down with all personnel evacuated.

More to follow...

[Arkinsaw]

They are saying NO DAMAGE to the terminal facility. Closed due to the attack but no damage.

Prayers for the boarders.

[stlnative]

fox is reporting NO DAMAGE done to the rig

[samtheman]

The warship sent a team to the boat

Ok. From now on, this should be a "no sail zone" and warships should send missles at approching vessels, not teams.

[mountaineer]

this should be a "no sail zone" and warships should send missles at approching vessels, not teams.

Agreed. "Small boats" have no business in the area.

[NewRomeTacitus]

Yep, a Moamar-style "Line of Death" should now be in effect, like the "No-Fly Zone" covered the skies. Cross the line to meet Allah. Please.

[seastay]

more flies to swat

[The Mayor]

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Suicide bombers launched two boat attacks on Iraq's vital Basra offshore oil terminal on Saturday, Iraqi officials said, but the British military said there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

One boat exploded alongside a ship tied up at the terminal, said British military spokesman Major Ian Clooey.

A second boat was intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition ship as it approached an exclusion zone around the terminal and there was an explosion soon after it was boarded, he said.

Iraq is almost completely dependent on the terminal -- which is in Britain's sector of responsibility in the country -- to export around 1.9 million barrels per day, providing badly needed state funding.

Officials at Iraq's Southern Oil Company said the terminal had been shut down.

At least two boats were used by suicide attackers targeting the terminal, the officials said.

They said the extent of any damage to the terminal was not immediately known.

"All workers were evacuated. We are concerned about the possibility of more attacks," an official stationed in the Faw Penninsula said.

[The Mayor]

LONDON (Reuters) - An explosion at the Basra offshore oil terminal on Saturday did no damage either to the platform or a boat moored alongside, Britain's Ministry of Defense said.
"A boat exploded next to it. But there was no damage to the oil terminal or the boat alongside it," a spokeswoman told Reuters in London. "As far as I know there were no British casualties."

Officials have said a second suicide bomb boat was intercepted and exploded later.

[woofie]

How would the liberals have handled the Kamakazi pilots in WW2?

Prayers for those innocents in Iraq

[deport]

Hmmmmmmm..........

Speedboats....... Kerry...... Oh, that was Vietnam.

[lobo59]

It is time to change some leadership, it seems that Rummy and our military highest ups are just plain stoned or stupid. Politically Correct weakness only encourages these barbarians.

They know Babylon well and need to learn that it's behave or live in the desert surrounding the ruins of all the new babylons, which should be all of Iraq. Maybe in a thousand years or so they could learn civilization and rejoin a sane society.

[DoctorMichael]

Launched from the wetlands near Iran? Staging area?

[freedom4me]

We need to close all borders...now! Since we don't have enough troops to guard the borders and we can't trust the Iraqi security personnel, we should fly armed drones over the border areas. Anyone crossing the borders is taken out. Period. No exceptions.

[woofie]

Watch out for shrapnel in the buttocks

[Howlin]

Speedboats....... Kerry...... Oh, that was Vietnam.

Got Bacitracin?

[LoudRepublicangirl]

I am hoping that the Islamoidiots were the only one's killed and I hope that there were a lot of them on their flaming boats of death.

[AM2000]

This belongs in breaking news.

[EGPWS]

We need to get serious with the terrorist that are planning these atrocities and quit trying to fight a nonexistent war, get the UN more involved and make this situation a concern of the courts and not the military.

It's not like we are at war..../sarcasm 10 fold

However, it sounds like a campaign speech well suited for JeFin'K.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

That shrapnel in the buttocks makes a darn funny story. It indicates to me that Kerry was running in the opposite direction, away from the action.