Baghdad gunmen kill oil ministry official
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-11-03 16:15

A senior Oil Ministry official was killed by gunmen on his way to work Wednesday, the ministry's spokesman said.

Hussein Ali al-Fattal, director general of the ministry's oil by-products distribution company, was shot to death by unknown assailants after leaving his house in the Yarmouk district of western Baghdad, said spokesman Assim Jihad.

"He did not care about the threats that many of the ministry officials received. They are trying to undermine this vital sector in the country," Jihad said. "He is great loss to the oil sector."

Iraq's oil industry, which provides desperately needed money for Iraq's reconstruction efforts, has been the target of repeated attacks by insurgents in recent months.

On Tuesday, saboteurs blew up an oil pipeline and attacked an oil well in northern Iraq Tuesday, which are expected to stop oil exports for the next 10 days, Iraqi oil officials said.

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