Another bombing hits Iraq oil town

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A truck bomb killed at least six police officers and wounded 16 people Saturday in the northern oil hub of Baiji, the second attack in two days to take aim at Iraq’s most lucrative industry.

The blast in the city about 125 miles north of Baghdad was also the latest reminder of an apparent move by insurgents to step up attacks in the north of the country after being pushed out of the capital by an increased troop presence.

Although attacks on civilians nationwide have fallen about 55 percent since June, according to U.S. military figures, attacks in Diyala and Salahuddin provinces just north of Baghdad have remained the same or increased.

The latest attack was carried out by a suicide bomber in Baiji, a major oil center and home to thousands of employees of Iraq’s largest oil refinery.

Two pipelines, one carrying oil from the Kirkuk field to Baiji for refining, and another carrying oil north into Turkey, cross through the city. The refinery handles about 300,000 barrels a day from Kirkuk, according to Iraq’s Oil Ministry.

Because of its strategic importance, the city is a frequent target of insurgents, as are the pipelines. In June, 18 people died when a suicide bomber attacked Baiji’s police headquarters. An August attack at another Baiji police post killed 24 people.

Since the war began in March 2003, there have been more than 460 attacks on Iraq’s oil installations or industry employees, according to the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, which monitors security issues related to energy. These have included scores of blasts along the pipelines, including one Friday about 10 miles northeast of Baiji that sent oil spilling into the Tigris River.

The attacks have left Iraq’s critical oil industry struggling to increase exports, on which 90 percent of the country’s revenue is based. Before the war, Iraq exported about 2.3 million barrels per day. Last year, it averaged 1.6 million barrels daily.

In an interview Friday on Iraq’s Al Hurra television, Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani said exports had reached 2 million barrels daily recently. “Thank God for those high oil prices,” Shahristani added.

The Baiji attack came a day after at least 24 people died in attacks north of the capital.

Also Saturday, U.S. military officials said they had killed 12 alleged al-Qaida insurgents in raids south and northeast of the capital.