BAGHDAD, Iraq — Firefighters today contained an oil fire blamed on saboteurs on the major Turkish-bound pipeline, while witnesses said three U.S. soldiers were wounded when their Humvee hit a mine on the road near Fallujah.
The U.S. military confirmed the incident but had no details. Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, has proven one of the most dangerous places for the U.S.-led occupation force. It sits in the so-called "Sunni Triangle," the area north and west of Baghdad where support for ousted dictator Saddam Hussein remains strong.
The 4th Infantry Division, meanwhile, reported another soldier was seriously wounded in a mortar attack Monday near the town of Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad. Division spokeswoman Maj. Josslyn Aberle had no other details.
In Cairo, Egypt, the Arab League granted the fledgling Iraqi Governing Council the Baghdad seat on the 22-member pan-Arab body early today. The decision was the league's first officially recognizing the U.S.-picked council as a legitimate authority and gives a boost to the U.S.-led occupation.
Later today, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, an Iraqi Kurd, took his country's seat. People in Iraq generally welcomed the Arab League recognition, but many said they felt it had been granted under U.S. pressure.
"The positive stand was imposed on them by America and its hegemony. They must have had a telephone call directing them to agree," said Ibrahim Hammadi Suud, a clan chief from Fallujah.
Others believed the league acted in the interest of all Arabs.
"I believe, the Arab League today behaved wisely. If they opposed Iraq's participation they could have pushed this Arab country to throw itself in the lap of colonialism, America and Israel," Bassam Abdul-Razzaq, a building materials salesman, said.
Also today, firefighters smothered a pipeline fire that was set by saboteurs on Monday. It was the fifth such attack on the oil infrastructure in less than a month. The acts of sabotage have shut the export pipeline to Turkey and dampened the U.S.-led coalition's hopes of using Iraq's oil revenues to help pay for reconstruction efforts in the country.
L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civil administrator for Iraq, has estimated the country is losing $7 million daily because of damage to the major Turkish-bound pipeline that carries oil from the Kirkuk fields to a Mediterranean port at Ceyhan in Turkey.
Adel al-Qazzaz, the director general of the Northern Oil Co., said the line had carried 35,000 barrels a day from the Janbour oil field 20 miles southeast of Kirkuk to the main pipeline that originates in the northeastern Iraqi city.
The official said the saboteurs struck at 10:30 a.m., setting the line afire at a valve. Huge flames and clouds of smoke rose into the air. Four firefighting teams had the fire under control and hoped to have it completely extinguished by the end of the day. About 300 yards of the line were damaged.
Iraq has the world's second-largest proven crude reserves, at 112 billion barrels, but its pipelines, pumping stations and oil reservoirs are dilapidated after more than a decade of neglect. The giant Kirkuk oil fields account for 40 percent of Iraq's oil production, but attempts to resume exports have been crippled by sabotage.
Income from oil exports were crucial to the American plans for rebuilding Iraqi infrastructure. The Kirkuk-Ceyhan line was expected to remain closed for five more weeks.
In Najaf, 110 miles south of Baghdad, members of the Badr Brigade, a Shiite militia, burned the house of a former Baath member, residents said. No casualties were reported, but a man close to the brigade, ordered disbanded by the United States shortly after Iraq was occupied by U.S. forces, said the militia would continue to pursue former members of the ruling Baath Party, which was the bulwark of support for Saddam.
The Badr Brigade is the armed wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Its defiant reappearance takes on particular significance because its new leader also sits on the U.S.-picked Iraqi Governing Council.
Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim took over the leadership of the Supreme Council after his brother, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, was assassinated in an Aug. 29 car bomb outside the Imam Ali shrine. Between 85 and 125 people also were killed in the bombing in Najaf, Iraq's holiest Shiite Muslim city.
Meanwhile, a deputy of a radical Shiite Muslim cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, said his group would not heed a Friday ultimatum set by U.S.-led coalition forces to hand over weapons. Members of the al-Sadr group also had been seen patrolling in Najaf after al-Hakim's assassination.
The two groups are at odds over the direction Iraq will take and on the U.S.-led occupation. The Supreme Council had urged patience with the Americans. Al-Sadr wants them out now.
While sporadic attacks continued against U.S. forces, today marked the eighth day running that the U.S. military reported no combat deaths.
Since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1, 149 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq, 11 more than the number of deaths during heavy fighting.
Washington has asked other countries to help stabilize Iraq. Today, Denmark decided today to send 90 more soldiers — not because of the U.S. call, but to reinforce the 400-strong contingent that has been there since June.
Associated Press writer Sabah Jerges in Kirkuk contributed to this report.