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Kurdish authorities say one killed, several wounded in riots in Erbil’s Gwer, as authorities try to restore power after attack on Khor Mor.
A group of “rioters” have opened fire at fuel tanker trucks in the northern Iraqi governorate of Erbil, killing at least one person and wounding several others, Kurdish authorities said, days after a rocket attack on the region’s Khor Mor gas field.
In a statement carried by the Iraqi News Agency late on Saturday, the Ministry of Interior of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) linked the shooting to the Khor Mor attack.
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The rocket attack hit a storage tank at the gas field, which is one of the region’s largest facilities, late on Wednesday, leading to production shutdown and extensive power cuts.
The ministry said the KRG sent liquid fuel to supply power plants following the Khor Mor attack, but that “a group of rioters blocked the road used by fuel tankers and civilians in Gwer, opening fire on passers-by and travellers”.
The shooting “resulted in the death of one citizen and injuries to several others”, it said.
The ministry pledged action against the “riots”, saying “we will put an end to these acts of sabotage”.
The ministry statement followed an earlier report by the Iraqi News Agency in which it said there had been armed clashes between the Harkiya tribe and security forces in Erbil, near the village of Lajan on the Erbil-Gwer road.
The agency cited security forces as saying that the clashes, adjacent to the Lanaz Company refinery, had “resulted in fatalities and injuries”.
Operations restarted at Iraq’s Khor Mor gas field, with the transmission of gas to power stations starting at 2 am on Sunday (23:00 GMT Saturday), the Kurdish regional government’s electricity ministry later announced.
On Thursday, joint field operator Dana Gas said a rocket hit a storage tank at the gas field, leading to a shutdown in production and extensive power cuts.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack on Khor Mor, and authorities have not said who was behind the attack.
The attack on Khor Mor was the most significant violence since a series of drone attacks in July that cut production by about 150,000 barrels per day.
Abdulkhaliq Talaat, a military expert and former official from the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, however, told the Rudaw news channel that the drone attack on the Khor Mor gas field was launched from an area under the control of Iraqi forces.
The storage tank at Khor Mor is part of new facilities partially financed by the US and built by a US contractor, an industry source told the Reuters news agency earlier this week.
The KRG exercises autonomy in parts of northern Iraqwhere US companies have significant investments in energy.
