Insurgents cripple Iraq’s oil and water pipes
Insurgents have attacked oil and water pipelines in Iraq this weekend in another wave of violence intended to oppose the presence of international troops in the country.
The terrorists or resistance fighters have had a videotaped message aired on the Al-Jazeera television network saying: ‘This resistance is not a reaction to the American provocations against the Iraqi people or to the shortage of services, as some analysts believe.’ They said they want to ‘kick out the occupiers as a matter of principle,’
An attack on Iraq’s oil export pipeline to Turkey has set it ablaze and is likely to hinder the rebuilding process in Iraq by harming the local economy. Attacks on oil installations match attempts to sabotage oil infrastructure by Saddam Hussein during the war.
Estimates have it that the terrorism is costing the Iraqi economy some seven million dollars a day in lost revenue. However, the damage to water pipelines in Baghdad is likely to take a more immediate toll on the people of Iraq as they struggle to return to a normal way of life.
On Sunday, six Iraqis were killed and 59 injured in a mortar attack on a Baghdad prison, and a Danish soldier was killed as he tried to stop looting from taking place.
A Reuters’ cameraman was also shot dead whilst filming outside Abu Ghraib prison on the outskirts of Baghdad, reportedly by American soldiers who wrongly identified him as a threat.
