BAGHDAD: POWER PLANT ATTACKED, THOUSANDS WITHOUT ELECTRICITY

IRAQ: Misna; Gunmen last night attacked the Al-Doura power plant, in southern Baghdad, causing the facility to shut down. The news was referred by Iraq’s ministry of Electricity to the Aswat al-Iraq news agency, informing that “thousands of citizens” of the area are without power. The two units of the plant suffered serious damages and one was set on fire.

There is no toll for the moment on eventual victims, though according to the same source various wounded were rushed to the nearby hospital. “It is an area not easy to control, despite the large-scale deployment of security forces and arrival of reinforcements”, added the source. Meanwhile, Aswat al-Iraq today also reports that fifty Iraqi prisoners will be released on a daily basis from US army detention in the country during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

The announcement was made by the office of Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashimi, specifying that “the initiative comes in the framework of a campaign launched by Hashimi to release innocent detainees” in the Baghdad area and other provinces. [BO]