Two Iraqis on a U.S. "black list" surrendered to U.S. troops hunting for Saddam Hussein, but problems with the export of vital crude oil highlighted Iraq's instability after the war that ousted its leader. The U.S.-led administration's attempts to revive Iraq's oil industry suffered a blow when a fire and technical problems halted oil in a recently reopened northern export pipeline. Saboteurs opposed to the U.S. occupation of Iraq have been blamed for a spate of fires and explosions along the pipe, but an Iraqi engineer said it was not yet clear what triggered the latest blaze. U.S. soldiers hunting the deposed president said two people on a list of 250 wanted Saddam loyalists turned themselves in over the past 36 hours. "I guess they decided they wanted to come to us rather than us coming to them," Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Russell from the 4th Infantry Division told reporters in Tikrit, north of Baghdad. One man was freed after interrogation, but Russell did not give details. The U.S. has a separate list of 55 most wanted, which includes Saddam and his top aides.
| There's no confirmation as to why the pipeline caught fire, but we can guess... |
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