FILE - In this Sept. 18, 2003 file photo, Iraqi firefighters battle an oil pipeline explosion along the main line from Iraq to Turkey near the...
(AP Photo/Samir Mezban, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 18, 2003 file photo, Iraqi firefighters battle an oil pipeline explosion along the main line from Iraq to Turkey near the northern Iraqi town of Beiji, Iraq. Gunmen attacked Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011, Iraq's largest oil refinery of Beiji, killing one guard and detonating bombs that sparked a fire and forced the facility to shut down, officials said.
BAGHDAD — Gunmen attacked Iraq's largest oil refinery before dawn Saturday, killing a guard and detonating bombs that sparked a fire and forced the facility to halt operations, officials said.
A few hours later, a small refinery in the south shut down after a technical failure sparked a fire in a storage unit, an official said.
If not fixed swiftly, the two shutdowns could translate into long lines at fuel stations and longer electricity outages. The dearth of reliable electricity _ some Iraqis get just a few hours a day _ was one of the leading complaints of protesters during violent anti-government protests across Iraq on Friday.
The attack on Iraq's largest refinery, Beiji, began at about 3:30 a.m. Assailants carrying pistols fitted with silencers attacked guards and planted bombs near some production units for benzene and kerosene, said the spokesman for Salahuddin province, Mohammed al-Asi.
One guard was killed and another wounded, al-Asi said.
Iraqi Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said an investigation would be launched and that he hoped operations could resume shortly.
The Beiji refinery, located about 155 miles (250 kilometers) north of Baghdad, has two sections. The attackers targeted the installation's North Refinery that handles 150,000 barrels a day. The second section, the Salahuddin Refinery, is under renovation. It used to process 70,000 barrels per day.
At the height of the insurgency from 2004 to late 2007, the Beiji refinery was under control of Sunni militants who used to siphon off crude and petroleum products to finance their operations.
Hours after the Beiji facility was attacked, a small refinery in Samawa, a city on the Euphrates River about 230 miles (370 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, went offline due to a fire in the storage unit, according to a local official.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to release information, said the fire was caused by a technical failure, not foul play. He wouldn't say when work would resume at the plant which has the capacity of 30,000 barrels of a day.