Iraq rebels attack key infrastructure

A huge fire broke out at the Dura oil refinery on the outskirts of the capital after it was hit by two mortar rounds, oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said.

Some 150 firefighters battled the blaze for more than two hours before putting it out. Three people suffered minor burns, Jihad said.

"It appears to be a mortar that hit one of the pipelines attached to one of the reservoirs," Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum, who visited the plant after the attack, told AFP.

"It is all under control now -- the reservoir is damaged a bit but the refinery will be operating at capacity again."

The Dura refinery, which can handle about 100,000 barrels a day, supplies Baghdad with most of its petrol and fuels a key power plant.

"Dura is the backbone for fulfilling Baghdad's energy needs, there have been several attempts to stop the refinery," the minister said, recalling an attack five days earlier on a key feeder pipeline.

The capital's water supply has also come under mounting attack. On Thursday, insurgents bombed a key main, leaving half the city without water at the height of summer in the third such attack in as many weeks.