Gunmen kill 5 Iraq Oil Ministry guards

KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) – Gunmen shot dead five Iraqi Oil
Ministry security guards who were driving to the northern city
of Kirkuk on Thursday, police said.

Lieutenant Jawaad Abdullah said they were shot in the town
of Uthaim south of Kirkuk. The attack came a day after a car
bomb critically wounded six security guards for the state-owned
North Oil Company in Kirkuk, an oil center.

In Baghdad, a suicide bomber in a car killed 10 people and
wounded eight others when he blew himself up near the Oil
Ministry.

Earlier this week, the oil minister survived an apparent
assassination attempt when a bomb exploded beside his motorcade
in Baghdad.

Insurgents have assassinated oil officials and sabotaged
crude pipelines as part of a campaign aimed at toppling the
U.S.-backed Iraqi government.

Iraq relies on oil exports of about 1.5 million barrels per
day for virtually all its foreign currency earnings.