Rocket hits site of foreign oil firms in Iraq’s Basra, two hurt

A rocket landed at the headquarters of several global major oil companies, including US giant ExxonMobil, in Iraq’s southern city of Basra early on Wednesday, wounding two Iraqi workers.

It was the latest in a spate of attacks on oil infrastructure in the region. 

The rocket hit the Burjesia residential and operations headquarters west of Basra, Iraqi police said.

Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from Basra, said a local security official said Exxon had evacuated some 20 foreign staff immediately. Other companies operating at the site include Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Italian Eni SpA.

“The oil ministry is saying that oil production in the area has not been affected by this attack,” Stratford said.

“[But] we are seeing what can only be described as an increase in frequency of such incidents, over the last month and a half there have been a number of incidents involving rockets fired at what has been interpreted to be foreign interests here,” he added.

More soon …