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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COUNTERTERROR OFFICIALS: TERROR CHATTER ON THE RISE DURING HOLIDAY TRAVEL SEASON

The busy holiday travel season already in motion, the nation's top counterterror officials are seeking to assure the public of their efforts to safeguard the homeland even as they acknowledge real dangers.

 

In a wide-ranging interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer yesterday, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and Chief Counterterrorism Advisor John Brennan said that though they know of no specific, credible threat against the U.S. at this time, there are plenty of warning signs to keep them on alert. Officials say that a year later, new security measures would have prevented Abdulmutallab's attempted attack.

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SKOREA LEADER VOWS CONSEQUENCES FOR NKOREAN ATTACK

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea's president took responsibility Monday for failing to protect his citizens from a deadly North Korean artillery attack last week, vowing tough consequences for any future aggression and expressing outrage over the "ruthlessness of the North Korean regime.

Lee Myung-bak's nationally televised speech came as a nuclear-powered U.S. supercarrier and a South Korean destroyer participated in joint military exercises, a united show of force nearly a week after an artillery barrage on Yeonpyeong Island killed four, including two civilians.The local government placed the front-line island under control of the military, which could pave the way for the evacuation of about 300 remaining residents, journalists and officials. The decision allows the military to restrict the movement of civilians into and out of the island. South Korea's Defense Ministry said it would discuss whether to evacuate.
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