News / Iraq

Katyusha rocket lands at oil hub in Iraq's Basra, injuring 3

Wednesday, 19 June 2019 6:04 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 19 June 2019 7:56 AM ]

File photo features a general view of oil facilities in the southern Iraqi port city of Basra.

Unknown assailants fire a Katyusha rocket at an area housing representative offices of several international oil companies in the southern Iraqi port city of Basra, wounding three Iraqis.

Citing the Iraqi police, Reuters said the projectile came down 100 meters away from the section of the site used as a residence and operations center by the US company ExxonMobil on Wednesday morning.

The police identified the casualties as workers.

The site, known as Burjesia, also houses the headquarters of Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Italy’s Eni SpA.

The agency also quoted a security source as saying that Exxon was preparing to evacuate some 20 foreign staff in the aftermath of the attack.

Two similar incidents broke out across the country over the previous two days.

At least one Katyusha rocket landed near an Iraqi military base hosting US forces in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday. Xinhua described the target as the complex of the former presidential palace in the city.

And on Monday, three such rockets landed on a military base on Camp Taji, a military base some 20 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad, which likewise houses a base of US forces. The projectiles did not cause any casualties, and the resulting fires were extinguished immediately.

The Wednesday attack came as the company was returning those of its staff members, whom it took out of Iraq last month after the United States evacuated hundreds of diplomatic employees out of the Arab country.