Security forces free kidnapped Lukoil engineers in Basra
06 Aug 2003, Kirkuk, Iraq — A worker maintains production at the North Oil Company in Kirkuk. North Oil Company, which produces two-thirds of Iraq’s total, has been unable to export due to sabotage on the pipeline, twice last month. — Image by © Ed Kashi/Corbis
(IraqiNews.com) Basra – Two Iraqi engineers were freed, hours after they were kidnapped near an oil field west of Qurna, the security committee at Basra Provincial Council stated on Monday.
Head of the Security Committee Jabbar al-Saedi said, “On Sunday, security forces received information indicating that two engineers working for the Russian oil company Lukoil were kidnapped, and the perpetrators of the incident are still unknown.”
“The security forces managed to free them after cordoning off a nearby neighborhood,” Saedi explained. “The rescue troops discovered an Iraqi broker held captive by the kidnappers at the same location and set him free in process,” he added.
Despite a relative stability in its security situation, Basra had witnessed a spike in armed tribal tensions, murders, kidnappings, armed robberies and carjacking during the first half of 2015. The situation, however, improved slightly early 2016 with a security operation resulting in the arrest of thousands of convicts within a few months.