ISIL terrorists seize oil facility in northern Iraq
The ISIL Takfiri terrorists have taken control of a small crude oil separation unit in northern Iraq.
Two officials from Iraq’s state-run North Oil Co. confirmed that the militants seized a crude oil separation unit in Khabbaz complex, located about 20 kilometers (12 miles) southwest of the city of Kirkuk on Saturday.
The officials further noted that 15 oil workers are missing after the facility came under attack and lost contact with them.
We received a call from one of the workers saying dozens of ISIL terrorists were surrounding the facility and asking workers to leave the premises, said an engineer from the North Oil Co.
“We lost contact and now the workers might be taken hostage,” added the engineer, whose name was not mentioned in the report.
The complex had been controlled by the Kurdish Peshmerga forces of Iraq’s autonomous region of Kurdistan since June 2014. The facility, with a maximum production capacity of 15,000 barrels per day (bpd), was producing around 10,000 bpd before the attack.
On Friday, ISIL attacked Peshmerga forces southwest of Kirkuk, seizing some areas.
The Takfiri terrorists have captured several oil fields in Iraq and neighboring Syria. They use revenues from illegal oil sales to fund their terrorist activities.
ISIL started its campaign of terror in Iraq in early June 2014. The heavily-armed militants took control of the city of Mosul before sweeping through parts of the country’s Sunni Arab heartland.
Iraqi soldiers, police units, Kurdish forces, Shia volunteers and Sunni tribesmen have recently succeeded in driving the terrorists out of some areas in Iraq.
MP/HSN/SS
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