ExxonMobil and other oil firms targeted in rocket attack in Iraq

A rocket landed at a residential and operations headquarters of several global major oil companies, including U.S. giant ExxonMobil, near Iraq’s southern city of Basra early on Wednesday, wounding three Iraqi workers.

It came after two separate attacks in as many days on bases housing U.S. military personnel in Iraq.

The rocket hit the Burjesia site west of the city.  The rocket was a short-range Katyusha missile that landed 100 meters from the part of the site used as a residence and operations center by Exxon. The other companies operating at the site include Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Italian Eni SpA

The United States evacuated hundreds of diplomatic staff from its Baghdad embassy last month, citing unspecified threats from Iran against U.S. interests in neighboring Iraq, where Tehran supports some Shi’ite militias.

Wednesday’s incident came just as Exxon staff who were also evacuated after the diplomats’ departure had begun to return to Basra.

Via Al Jazeera