Disaster hits Iraq once more

Four Iraqi National Guards were killed and up to 80 others wounded in a mortar attack on their headquarters north of Baghdad Tuesday, the U.S. military and Iraqi Defense Ministry said.

"Four Iraqi National Guards were killed and up to 80 wounded in a mortar attack on an Iraqi National Guard base," a U.S. military spokeswoman said, informs Reuters.

According to ABC News, in northern Iraq, saboteurs attacked and set on fire a key oil pipeline that connects the Beiji oil refinery with Turkey, police said Tuesday. The pipeline was hit with explosives late Monday, said a Beiji police officer. An official at the state-run Northern Oil Company confirmed the attack, but did not say whether it would affect exports.

&to=http://english.pravda.ru/economics/2003/03/26/45032.html' target=_blank>Iraq's oil industry has been hit by repeated insurgent attacks, hampering attempts to rebuild a sector that provides desperately needed money for Iraq's reconstruction efforts.

The abduction of CARE International's director was the latest kidnapping targeting foreigners in the heart of the Iraqi capital.

Margaret Hassan, said to be a British-born Iraqi national, was abducted while she was being driven to work in a west Baghdad neighborhood, said a CARE employee speaking on condition of anonymity. The employee said CARE did not employ armed guards.