Tags: ML | Iraq

Iraq Resumes Work at Gas Plant 2 Days after IS Attack

Iraq Resumes Work at Gas Plant 2 Days after IS Attack

Tuesday, 17 May 2016 05:52 AM EDT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi oil workers resumed work at a natural gas plant north of Baghdad on Tuesday, two days after a coordinated dawn assault by Islamic State militants left at least 14 people dead there, a senior Oil Ministry official said.

Sunday's spectacular attack in the town of Taji, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Baghdad, saw a suicide car bombing at the facility's main gate, followed by several IS fighters breaking into the plant where they clashed with security forces for hours before the attackers were repelled.

The dead included six civilians and eight security forces while 27 Iraqi troops were wounded. Closed-circuit television images showed an explosion that sent thick black smoke rising above the plant. As flames engulfed the facility and nearby palm trees, pedestrians were seen running for cover. The top of one of the gas-processing units was blown off.

It took hours before Iraqi troops repelled the attackers.

On Tuesday, work at the plant's three production lines returned "to normal levels," said Deputy Oil Minister Hamid Younis.

The plant was back to full capacity of producing 30,000 cooking gas cylinders a day, he said, adding that Sunday's attack had only damaged two gas storages and a few pipelines.

Iraqi state TV showed workers in navy blue overalls filling metal and plastic cylinders on conveyor belts and forklift trucks loading cylinders into trucks.

The assault on Taji came as Islamic State militants are being pushed back along several front lines in Iraq, prompting the Sunni extremists to increasingly turn to insurgency-style attacks to detract from their losses.

IS-claimed attacks have killed more than 140 people since last week in Iraq and the Islamic State still controls significant areas in northern and western Iraq, including the country's second-largest city of Mosul. The group declared an Islamic caliphate on the territory it holds in Iraq and Syria and at the height of its power was estimated to hold nearly a third of Iraq. Iraq's government says the group's hold has since shrunk to 14 percent of Iraq's territory.

© Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


MiddleEast
Iraqi oil workers resumed work at a natural gas plant north of Baghdad on Tuesday, two days after a coordinated dawn assault by Islamic State militants left at least 14 people dead there, a senior Oil Ministry official said.Sunday's spectacular attack in the town of Taji,...
ML,Iraq
341
2016-52-17
Tuesday, 17 May 2016 05:52 AM
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