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Allawi blames insurgents for huge oil losses


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Iraqis take cover during fighting in the streets of Najaf.
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U.S. holds back troops as Iraqi police battle militia in Najaf.

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, Thursday said Iraq has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues, had significant disruption in electrical service and seen serious environmental damage because of insurgent attacks on the country's oil infrastructure.

His remarks came a day after guerrillas detonated an improvised explosive device at the main Kirkuk-Turkey oil pipeline. It was the fourth such attack at oil pipelines in three days.

"With nearly 20 days until Iraq emerges as a free sovereign state for the first time in more than three decades, terrorists have increasingly targeted our country's infrastructure," said Allawi, addressing reporters in both Arabic and English.

More than 130 attacks have targeted Iraq's oil infrastructure in the past seven months.

"More than $200 million have been stolen out of the pockets of the Iraqi sovereign government through the loss of oil revenues resulting from attacks to pipelines," Allawi said. "Attacks on our electrical infrastructure have caused a nationwide loss of power of more than four hours per day."

Allawi also noted that Iraqis are the one who suffer, even if the U.S. coalition is the implied target of such attacks.

"It is our people who are sitting in the dark because of these cowardly and treacherous attacks, not our occupiers, " Allawi said.

The attacks, he said, have "polluted our waterways and destroyed our farmlands."

Najaf fighting kills five

After days of relative quiet, fighting flared overnight in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq, resulting in the deaths of five people.

The fighting began just before midnight Wednesday when Iraqi police attempted to arrest four suspected thieves.

First reports said the fighters appeared to be members of the Mehdi Army militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, but Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey, commander of the 1st Armored Division, said it could have been tribesmen or criminals.

"It was certainly a bunch of armed men, but their motivation and their direction is not yet clear to us," he said.

The fighters attacked a police station in the center of Najaf with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, and at one point took control of the police station.

Although Najaf Police Chief Sayed al-Jazairi contacted the U.S. commander, asking for U.S. troops to come to his aid, the coalition soldiers were held back from the fight.

"He's got to learn how to deal with it on his own," a senior U.S. officer told CNN. "We will not get involved unless the situation gets way out of hand."

One senior U.S. officer said the scale of the battle didn't reach the level that would require the involvement of U.S. troops, and the local police chief "understands that."

The governor of Najaf province, Adnan al-Zurufi, requested more ammunition and weapons for the Iraqi police and the U.S. commander agreed to send the supplies, the senior U.S. officer said.

Another factor in the withholding of U.S. soldiers from the battle is the location of the police station under attack -- just 500 yards from the Imam Ali Shrine, an area out of bounds for coalition forces under the deal, the military said.

"We didn't want to do anything precipitous to potentially unhinge all the progress we've made in the past week," Dempsey said.

The fighting continued for several hours near Najaf's 1920 Revolution Square, witnesses said.

U.S. military sources said two Iraqi police officers were among the five people killed.

The fighting comes after a deal was put in place in Najaf over the weekend to stop violence between U.S. troops and al-Sadr militia.

The agreement called for the patrol of Kufa and Najaf by Iraqi forces, the redeployment of U.S. troops to the cities' peripheries, and the withdrawal of the militia from the city centers.

On Saturday, a Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman reported a dramatic decrease in hostilities and there has been relative calm since. However, U.S. forces reserved the right to respond militarily if the need arose.

Sanchez wants out of abuse probe

The U.S. commanding general in Iraq has asked to be recused from reviewing the results of an investigation into prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison.

Pentagon officials said Wednesday that Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez's request is under consideration and they are trying to identify another general to head the investigation.

Maj. Gen. George Fay is wrapping up his investigation, and he would normally send his report to Sanchez. (Full story)

Other developments

  • For the second day this week, news footage Thursday showed members of an obscure militant group holding Turkish workers and issuing anti-coalition messages. The video, obtained by Associated Press Television, shows the four kneeling in front of the masked, armed militants. The hostages were holding passports. They are thought to be part of a group of seven Turks abducted in Iraq. A video shown on Tuesday showed three other Turks surrounded at gunpoint by militants. (Full story)
  • U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Erwin "Erv" Lessel III is expected to be named the chief military spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq within the next few weeks, according to U.S. military officials. He will replace Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, who has been reassigned to Central Command regional headquarters in Qatar.
  • Lawyers representing abused Iraqi prisoners have sued two U.S. corporations hired to help the military conduct prison interrogations. The attorneys filed suit in federal court in San Diego, California, charging Titan Corp. and CACI International with engaging in a pattern of racketeering in violation of U.S. and international laws. The corporations and three employees also were accused of committing illegal abuses at Abu Ghraib prison and other Iraq detention facilities. The accused corporations issued separate statements rejecting the allegations.
  • President Bush said Wednesday he hopes NATO will take a bigger role in Iraq now that the United Nations has endorsed the country's interim government. Several NATO members have contributed troops individually to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, and the alliance provides support to the Polish-led multinational division based south of Baghdad. (Full story)
  • A Task Force Baghdad soldier died Thursday of wounds suffered in an attack on coalition forces in eastern Baghdad on Wednesday, a statement from the coalition press center said. Four other soldiers were also wounded in the coordinated attack. The identity of the soldier who died is being withheld pending notification of the family. The incident is under investigation.
  • CNN's Guy Raz and Barbara Starr and journalist Mohammed Sharif in Najaf contributed to this story.


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