Iraq airport ‘vital’ for development

AN OIL refinery in Iraq’s western desert has resumed production, the government said yesterday, as part of an outreach to an area once controlled by Sunni insurgents.

And in the country’s south, a new airport opened in Najaf in what the prime minister said was a key step in the reconstruction of a country devastated by war.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims travel to Iraq every year to visit Shiite shrines in Najaf and another holy city, Karbala. The new airport is expected to boost the numbers of pious tourists.