Attacks Halt Production At Iraq's Largest Refinery

International Team to Probe Complaints of Election Fraud

In Baghdad, people crowd around cars that residents said were destroyed by a U.S. tank driving through a narrow street during a predawn raid. In other areas, transportation was limited by fuel shortages and higher gasoline prices. (By Hadi Mizban -- Associated Press)

BAGHDAD, Dec. 29 -- Under a mounting insurgent offensive against Iraq's gasoline supply, the country's largest fuel refinery sat idle Thursday. Gas station owners in surrounding communities in northern Iraq hung up their dry nozzles. A police chief put out a no-patrol order to his men to conserve fuel. And Nouri Ahmed Azaid put off his wedding.

In Iraq, convoys of cars draped with wreaths, their horns honking and side windows sprouting relatives with video cameras, are as much a post-wedding ritual as the honeymoon. But Azaid said, "I suspended my wedding party, because there is no fuel to drive around."

Azaid lives in Baiji, a town north of Baghdad that is home to Iraq's largest refinery and a frequent target of insurgent attacks. On Thursday, authorities confirmed that the refinery had been closed since Dec. 21 by a concerted insurgent campaign against gasoline distributors and filling stations.

The confirmation came on a day when U.S. and other international mediators helped stave off an early crisis in Iraq's efforts to assemble a new government, announcing the appointment of a multinational team to investigate complaints of fraud in Dec. 15 national elections. Sunni Arab and secular parties had said earlier Thursday that they would boycott talks on forming a coalition government without such an investigation.

The investigative team includes two representatives of the Arab League, a former member of the Canadian Parliament and a European academic, authorities said. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Iraqi candidates welcomed the team's creation and the willingness of Iraq's election commission to accept it. U.S. officials said the team had the blessing of U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.

The day's political brinkmanship, fuel shortages and violence highlighted the complex political, economic and security tangles facing U.S. and Iraqi leaders as they try to move toward a stable government and sustainable economy.

Insurgents, apparently hoping to pick a cause popular with Iraqis, launched their offensive on gas stations this month after Iraq raised fuel prices eightfold. The International Monetary Fund mandated the reduction of government gasoline subsidies as a condition for forgiving some of Iraq's multibillion-dollar foreign debt.

The United States and Iraq have been trying desperately to rebuild Iraq's energy sector as the foundation for other reconstruction work here. Although Iraq has one of the world's largest oil reserves, inadequate refining systems mean it must spend $500,000 a month importing fuel.

As a result, Iraqis already faced a choice between waiting for hours at gas stations or paying higher prices to buy gasoline on the black market. This week, insurgent attacks and heavy storms in the south brought oil production to some of its lowest levels since the war began in 2003, analysts told the Dow Jones news service.

The day after the government announced the gasoline price increases, Hawas Jamil Saaed said he arrived at the station he owns in Baiji to find a letter warning all fuel tankers to stay off the road. The next day, he said, insurgents backed up the warning by stopping three tankers, pulling the drivers out and setting the rigs on fire.

Gas station owners and many tanker drivers heeded the warning. In Baghdad, Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad confirmed that the Baiji refinery had closed "because drivers of trucks distributing oil products from the refinery across Iraq have received death threats from terrorists." Jihad said he believed a solution would be found soon.

The Baiji police chief, Hamid Namis, ordered officers to limit patrols to stretch fuel supplies. Namis said the shortage also was affecting ambulance runs.