BAGHDAD (Anadolu) – The Iraqi military says it has thwarted rocket attacks targeting vital facilities in northern areas of the capital Baghdad.
The Iraqi army’s Baghdad Operations Command said on Wednesday that its forces “arrested three suspects after monitoring their movements on the Karkh and Rusafa areas in Baghdad.”
“According to information about the enemy’s intention to target vital installations in the Tarmiyah district, north of Baghdad, two Katyusha rockets and detonators were seized,” the command said.
It pointed out that “the weapons and detainees were handed over to the concerned authorities.”
Daesh has been active in the provinces of Salahuddin, Anbar, Kirkuk, and Diyala, at a time when the federal government is struggling to contain the attacks of the terrorist group by launching security and military operations in the northern, western and eastern regions of the country.
In 2017, Iraq declared victory over Daesh by reclaiming all territories the terrorist group controlled since the summer of 2014 which was estimated to be about a third of the country’s territory.
The group, however, still maintains sleeper cells in large areas in Iraq and occasionally launches sporadic attacks.
In another development in the country, angry demonstrators shut an oil refinery in Dhi Qar province in southern Iraq on Wednesday amid protests over lack of jobs for local residents, according to witnesses.
Dozens of university graduates gathered in front of the al-Gharraf oilfield to demand employment, witnesses said.
“They protested a month after they applied for jobs in the oilfield but received no reply,” a local resident, who requested anonymity, told Anadolu Agency.
The predominantly Shia province has the Nassiriya and al-Gharraf oilfields, which produce some 290,000 barrels of oil per day and about 60 million cubic feet of gas.
Crude oil production in Iraq averages 4.5 million barrels per day where oil constitutes 90% of Iraq revenues.