Iraq Defuses Mine Attached to Iraqi Oil Tanker

The military said it was not immediately clear how the mine was attached to the tanker. (Reuters)
The military said it was not immediately clear how the mine was attached to the tanker. (Reuters)
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Iraq Defuses Mine Attached to Iraqi Oil Tanker

The military said it was not immediately clear how the mine was attached to the tanker. (Reuters)
The military said it was not immediately clear how the mine was attached to the tanker. (Reuters)

A mine that was attached to the hull of an Iraqi oil tanker was defused two days after it was discovered, Iraq’s military said in a statement on Saturday.

The tanker was in international waters about 28 nautical miles (52 km) off Iraq’s coast in the Gulf and supplying another ship with fuel when the device was discovered on Thursday afternoon.

An investigation has been opened to find out the circumstances of the incident.

The military said on Friday that it was not immediately clear how the mine was attached to the tanker, which was being rented by an unidentified client from Iraq’s state oil marketing organization.



WFP: Major Food Aid 'Scale-up' Underway to Famine-hit Sudan

FILED - 27 August 2024, Sudan, Omdurman: Young people walk along a street marked by destruction in Sudan. Photo: Mudathir Hameed/dpa
FILED - 27 August 2024, Sudan, Omdurman: Young people walk along a street marked by destruction in Sudan. Photo: Mudathir Hameed/dpa
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WFP: Major Food Aid 'Scale-up' Underway to Famine-hit Sudan

FILED - 27 August 2024, Sudan, Omdurman: Young people walk along a street marked by destruction in Sudan. Photo: Mudathir Hameed/dpa
FILED - 27 August 2024, Sudan, Omdurman: Young people walk along a street marked by destruction in Sudan. Photo: Mudathir Hameed/dpa

More than 700 trucks are on their way to famine-stricken areas of Sudan as part of a major scale-up after clearance came through from the Sudanese government, a World Food Program spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been locked in conflict since April 2023 that has caused acute hunger and disease across the country. Both sides are accused of impeding aid deliveries, the RSF by looting and the army by bureaucratic delays.
"In total, the trucks will carry about 17,500 tons of food assistance, enough to feed 1.5 million people for one month," WFP Sudan spokesperson Leni Kinzli told a press briefing in Geneva.
"We've received around 700 clearances from the government in Sudan, from the Humanitarian Aid Commission, to start to move and transport assistance to some of these hard-to-reach areas," she added, saying the start of the dry season was another factor enabling the scale-up.
The WFP fleet will be clearly labelled in the hope that access will be facilitated, Reuters quoted her as saying.
Some of the food is intended for 14 areas of the country that face famine or are at risk of famine, including Zamzam camp in the Darfur region.
The first food arrived there on Friday prompting cheers from crowds of people who had resorted to eating crushed peanut shells normally fed to animals, Kinzli said.

A second convoy for the camp is currently about 300 km away, she said.