Fire at Iraq oil refinery kills one, injures 6/node/2632404/middle-east
Fire at Iraq oil refinery kills one, injures 6
A gas pipeline linking Iraq's northern oil hub of Kirkuk to the Baiji refinery is ablaze after being hit by a rocket attack 09 February 2005 near Kirkuk. (AFP file photo)
Iraq is one of the world’s biggest oil producers and crude oil sales make up 90 percent of budget revenues
Updated 09 February 2026
AFP
BAGHDAD: A fire at a key oil refinery killed one worker and injured six others on Monday in northern Iraq, authorities said.
The fire erupted at an upgrading unit in the Baiji refinery, once the country’s largest oil refinery, in Salaheddin province.
The Iraqi government’s security media unit said in a statement that firefighters had extinguished the fire.
It added that “one worker was killed and six others were injured.”
Local official in Baiji city Adel Al-Daj told AFP that the explosion was caused by a technical malfunction.
The Baiji refinery, 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of Baghdad, was heavily damaged in some of the fiercest battles with the Daesh group after it swept across a third of Iraq in 2014.
After the facility’s full rehabilitation, authorities reopened it in February 2024.
Iraq is one of the world’s biggest oil producers and crude oil sales make up 90 percent of budget revenues.
Attacker spray-paint offensive phrases on the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque in the town of Tell
Religious affairs ministry says settlers vandalized or attacked 45 mosques in the West Bank last year
Updated 3 sec ago
AP
TELL, West Bank: Israeli settlers vandalized a mosque in the Israeli-occupied West Bank early Monday, spray-painting offensive phrases and setting a fire, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Religious Affairs Ministry. Worshippers coming for the first prayers of the day found the damage and a still smoldering fire, which spewed black smoke across the entrance of the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque in the town of Tell, near Nablus, and stained the ornate doorway. “I was shocked when I opened the door,” said Munir Ramdan, who lives near the mosque. “The fire had been burning here in the area, the glass was broken here, and the door was broken.” Security camera footage shows two people walking toward the mosque carrying gasoline and a can of spray paint, and running away a few minutes later, Ramdan said. The Religious Affairs Ministry said that settlers vandalized or attacked 45 mosques in the West Bank last year. The incident came as Muslims observe the holy month of Ramadan. “The provocation is directed especially at the person who is fasting, because you are fasting and entering a month of mercy and forgiveness from God,” said Salem Ishtayeh, a resident of Tell. “So they like to provoke you with words — it’s not that they are attacking you personally, they are attacking your religion, the Islamic faith.” The Israeli military and police said that they responded to the incident and were searching for suspects. The military said that it “strongly condemns” harm done to religious institutions. Palestinians and rights groups say that Israeli authorities routinely fail to prosecute settlers or hold them accountable for violence. There has been a recent surge in violence from settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. Last week, settlers killed a 19-year-old Palestinian-American man, Nasrallah Abu Siyam.
