Iraq resumes oil shipments as resistance mounts

IRAQ re-entered the world oil market yesterday with its first shipment of crude since the war, but sabotage and looting along its largest pipeline delayed the flow of freshly pumped oil — the key to the reconstruction of an economy devastated by sanctions and war.

In a reflection of the vulnerability of the country's decrepit oil infrastructure, a huge fire burned from a fuel pipeline west of Baghdad after an explosion, apparently caused by saboteurs.

South of the capital, attackers fired a grenade at a US military vehicle, killing one American soldier and wounding another.