ExxonMobil evacuated dozens of foreign staff after a rocket hit the area near its operations headquarters in southern Iraq, injuring three Iraqis.
The rocket struck the Burjesia residential and operations headquarters near the city early Wednesday morning. Exxon has evacuated 40 of its staff from the oil site and security reinforcements have been called to the area.
It is not immediately clear what country or organization is behind the attack, although the ordinance was reportedly a Katyusha rocket, the same type of Soviet-era projectile that exploded nearby the U.S. embassy in Iraq last month. The attack comes amid continuing tensions between the United States and Iran.
An inside shot of the building hit by a rocket around 3:30 AM in Barjisia oil location,Basra (Southern Iraq). 3 local Iraqi workers were injured. The location of the hit is across the street from the foreign staff camp. One of the staff is in a critical condition. pic.twitter.com/YkGVnCDPth
— Steven nabil (@thestevennabil) June 19, 2019
On Monday the U.S. announced that it was sending an additional 1,000 troops to the Middle East after a pair of oil tankers were attacked earlier this month in the Gulf of Oman. The U.S. and the U.K. have placed blame for the attack on Iran and that attack came just hours before Iran reportedly fired a surface-to-air missile at a U.S. drone.
Last month, four other tankers were targeted by Iran in what Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said was an attempt to inflate international oil prices.
The U.S. recently deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East.
