6 Austrian-made missiles defused in Basra

BASRA / IraqiNews.com: Police forces on Sunday managed to defuse six Austrian-made missiles in western Basra city, according to a local police media office. “Forces from al-Jihad neighborhood police defused six Austrian-made rockets that were ready to be launched in al-Amn al-Dakhili area, in addition to six mortars in Sahat area, western Basra,” the office told IraqiNews.com. Meanwhile, Ministry of Interior forces conducted raid-and-search campaigns in different parts of the province, during which four wanted persons were arrested on criminal and terror-related charges, the office noted. Basra, 590 km (340 miles) south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, has an estimated metropolitan population of 2,300,000 in 2008. Basra, a Shiite province with 20% of the population are Sunnis, is the cradle of the first civilization of Sumer. It has the seven main Iraqi ports. The first built in Islam 14 A.H. (After Hegira), the city played an important role in early Islamic history. The area surrounding Basra has substantial petroleum resources and many oil wells. The city’s oil refinery has a production capacity of about 140,000 barrels per day (bpd). The only Iraqi outlet to the sea, Basra is in a fertile agricultural region, with major products including rice, maize corn, barley, pearl millet, wheat and dates as well as livestock. A network of canals flowed through the city, giving it the nickname “The Venice of the Middle East” at least at high tide. The only Iraqi outlet to the sea, Basra has the commercial ports of Iraq. SS (S) 1