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| Iraq | |
| Basra in flames | |
| 2003-04-03 | |
Thick columns of smoke were seen billowing from Basra and engulfing most of southern Iraq. According to reports arriving from the border city of Shalamcheh on Thursday morning, nine oil wells in Basra have been set ablaze by heavy coalition bombardments of the city in the past few days. The reports further said that the fires from the oil wells are being fanned by exploding bombs dropped by coalition warplanes. Basra has been under siege by British ground forces for the past fortnight in a major push to occupy the city. The city has been under continuing air raids, missile and artillery barrage attacks by US-led forces more than any other southern Iraqi urban area since the outbreak of the current war. Black columns of smoke from the burning oil wells in the skies over Basra can also be seen in the skies of the Iranian cities bordering southern Iraq pushed by north-south winds.
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| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #4 An hour or so ago I was watching one of the cable news networks who had an embed with the Desert Rats, fighting in the Basra suburbs. He said there were actually oil trenches on fire in that area, like in Baghdad. |
| Posted by: J. Michael Krause 2003-04-03 14:36:01 |
| #3 UNEP, which is monitoring events in Iraq in an effort to identify potential environmental risks, said in a March 31 press release that three of the seven oil wells originally set on fire in southern Iraq near Basra are still burning, and toxic fumes are also emanating from oil-filled trenches and bomb-ignited fires in Baghdad. It's smoke from the two remaing oil fires in the Ramailah field drifting over Basra. Checked all news sites and they show no other oil well fires. I'm sure there are fires, but no wells. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-04-03 13:20:55 |
| #2 I trust IRNA about as much as Saddam's "Minister of Information". I'll wait for the western media to confirm this report. |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2003-04-03 12:45:27 |
| #1 This can't wait for Baghdad to fall. |
| Posted by: RW 2003-04-03 12:37:44 |