Posted on 06/16/2004 7:39:56 AM PDT by blam
Iraqi oil official is gunned down
Iraq's main oil export route will be out of action for several days
The security chief for Iraq's northern oil fields has been gunned down in the latest political killing, two weeks before Iraq regains its sovereignty. Ghazi al-Talabani was shot dead in the city of Kirkuk - the third Iraqi official to be killed since Saturday.
It is another blow for Iraq's oil industry, already at a standstill after a series of attacks on pipelines.
The key southern terminals are expected to be shut down for up to 10 days following a series of blasts this week.
US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was in Baghdad on Wednesday to discuss security issues with coalition and Iraqi officials.
The killing of Mr Talabani is the latest in a string of attacks in the run-up to the 30 June handover of power to an interim Iraqi government.
Officials targeted
The oil official, a second cousin of Jalal Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, died in a hail of bullets on his way to work. His driver was seriously wounded.
There has also been a bomb blast in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. Several people, including foreigners, are reported to have been killed.
Correspondents say Iraqis involved in rebuilding the war-torn country are increasingly being targeted as the scheduled transfer of power on 30 June draws near.
Iraq's interim Deputy Foreign Minister Bassam Qubba was killed by gunmen in Baghdad on Saturday. The following day, a senior education ministry official, Kamal al-Jarrah, was shot dead.
A few days earlier, Deputy Health Minister Ammar Safar had escaped an attempt on his life, while Ezzedine Salim, leader of the now dissolved Iraq Governing Council, was assassinated in a car bomb attack last month.
Now, the escalating attacks on the oil industry are crippling Iraq's only source of independent revenue.
Saboteurs have bombed pipelines in northern and southern Iraq in recent days.
The attacks have shut down all crude oil all exports from Iraq's southern terminals in Basra and Khor al-Amaya, which had been handling virtually all the country's exports.
The southern terminals were exporting 1.6m barrels of oil a day, and the aim had been to increase output to 2m barrels a day by 30 June.
The shutdown will cost Baghdad nearly $60m a day, analysts said.
Benchmark US crude prices for July delivery rose 21 cents to $37.40 a barrel on Wednesday on news of the attacks.
A pipeline in northern Iraq was bombed on Tuesday evening, but exports had already been crippled as a result of previous attacks.
The pipeline from the oilfields around Kirkuk to Ceyhan in Turkey has barely been in operation since the March 2003 US-led invasion because of repeated sabotage.
Iraqi oil exports are still below the pre-war level, even though a 14,000-strong Iraqi guard force has been set up specifically to protect pipelines and other vital parts of the oil infrastructure.
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi says pipeline sabotage has cost the country more than $200m in lost revenues over the past seven months.
When our soldiers were first subjected to guerrilla operations some suggested that it was some sort of a Saddam Rope-a-dope strategy, and I guess that sounded reasonable. But the idea of going around assassinating Iraqis strikes me as an adaptation by the to current conditions there. I don't think that it is the sort of operation either that could be carried out by assorted "spiritual" leaders from assorted "holy" cities. Military coordination would not be easy for them without some sort of infrastructure. It doesn't have to be Al qaeda, but it sure seems to me as if it might be.
ML/NJ
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