Iraqis panic as death threats cut oil supply

LONG lines formed at petrol stations in Baghdad yesterday as word spread that Iraq's largest oil refinery had shut down in the face of threats against truck drivers, and fears grew of a petrol shortage.

Also in the capital, a suicide car bomber and a mortar killed six people and injured 23 people in separate attacks, police said. The car bomber blew himself up next to a police patrol in a commercial area, killing three Iraqi civilians, and the mortar landed in a market, killing three Iraqi civilians and injuring 21. The market was closed because of the Friday holiday.

An international team, meanwhile, agreed on Thursday to assess Iraq's parliamentary elections, a decision lauded by Sunni Arab and secular Shi'ite groups who have staged repeated protests around Iraq complaining of widespread fraud and intimidation.