Militias want Basra oil, says police chief

BASRA, Iraq, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Basra’s police chief says militias, some attached to Iraq’s major political parties, are seizing on the oil-rich area for their smuggling operations.

The British military is continuing its withdrawal from Basra, and the already empowered armed factions are likely to now ramp up their campaigns.

Basra is Iraq’s oil capital, a province where around 80 percent of Iraq’s 115 billion barrels of proven reserves are located in or near. It’s also the main port for exporting 1.6 million barrels of oil per day.

“The task is very difficult and conditions are extremely dangerous because each party believes that it represents the law, and each element thinks himself as a state hero,” Police Chief General Abdul Jalil Khalaf told Gulf News. “The city includes tens or even hundreds of militias and I am ready for the task.”

The most prominent militias are the Badr Brigades of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council and that of the SIIC’s partner in the ruling government in Baghdad, the Dawa Party. The Mahdi Army of Cleric Moqtada Sadr as well as the Fadhila Party is also engaged in Basra.

“The issue of oil is the essence of conflict between armed militias, whether these are affiliated to political parties or smuggling gangs,” said economist Fadhil al-Jamaly. “I believe fighting will break out between the outlaw armed groups because of the weakness of state security forces and also the penetration of these militias in these forces.”