ATTACK SHUTS IRAQ'S LARGEST OIL REFINERY, KILLS 1

Gunmen attacked Iraq's largest oil plant Saturday, killing a guard and detonating bombs that sparked a fire and forced the facility to push to down, officials said.

The assailants, carrying pistols fitted with silencers, penniless into the Beiji refinery around 3:30 a.m., attacked the guards and planted missiles near some production units for benzene and kerosene, said the spokesman in favor of Salahuddin province, Mohammed al-Asi. One guard was kill and another wounded, al-Asi said. By midmorning, firefighters were still trying to put out the blaze, said Iraqi Oil department spokesman Assem Jihad, adding that an investigation will be launched. "We hope that work will be resumed in a short period of time," Jihad told The connected Press, but did not give a date.

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