Sixth Iraq oil well set ablaze by saboteurs

Channelnewsasia.com: "KIRKUK, Iraq : Saboteurs set ablaze another well in Iraq's northern oilfields overnight, bringing to six the number firefighters are trying to extinguish in the region, security guards said.

'Saboteurs exploded a bomb, setting oil well number 20 on fire,' said Lieutenant Colonel Hammudi Ali, of the security force operating for the state-owned North Oil Company.



The well is located in the Al-Khabbaza field, west of the city of Kirkuk, where five other wells were already ablaze following previous attacks.

'The firefighters are still trying to put out the fires, but so far they haven't managed to extinguish a single one,' Ali said.

Guards thwarted a second sabotage attempt overnight, killing one assailant and wounding another, at a well further west, said Colonel Nawzad Ahmed, also from the oilfields protection force.

In an audio message posted on the Internet a week ago, a man claiming to be Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, Iraq's most wanted man, urged insurgents to attack oil facilities around the country in their battle against the US military presence. "