Iraqi Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum survived an apparent assassination attempt in Baghdad today when a roadside bomb hit his motorcade. Police and a ministry spokesman said three of his escorts were killed in the attack.
'The minister was going to attend a ceremony in Baiji when a roadside bomb exploded,' the minister's spokesman Assem Jihad said.
Jihad said he knew of two bodyguards who were killed and two seriously wounded when two of the cars in the convoy were destroyed in the Rashdiya district of northern Baghdad. A police source later said three guards had died.
Iraq's oil industry, which has the world's third largest known reserves, has been crippled by war, sanctions and now the insurgency among minority Sunni Arabs.
Production remains limited, curbed by decaying infrastructure and sabotage, but oil provides the main hope of prosperity for the country.
