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KIRKUK, Iraq, Feb 24 (AFP): Iraq is able to resume oil exports through the Turkish port of Ceyhan from its northern fields around Kirkuk but no date has yet been set, an oil source said Thursday.
"Pumping from Kirkuk wells to reservoirs in the Baiji region began Wednesday," an oil source told the news agency, referring to the refinery town that is the hub of Iraq's pipeline network.
"The operation is set to accumulate large amounts of crude before pumping them through the main oil pipeline, with a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day, to the Ceyhan terminal.
"Actual pumping towards Turkey depends on a political decision," the source said.
Oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said: "No decision has yet been taken on this matter," adding that the pipeline network in the north faced continued sabotage by insurgents.
A pipeline linking Kirkuk with Baiji was attacked Wednesday, soon after it had been repaired after previous sabotage, causing a fire near the Sunni Arab insurgent stronghold of Hawija.
A gas pipeline linking Kirkuk with power stations in the region was also hit by insurgents Wednesday, Jihad said.
Kirkuk crude clinched its first post-war term contract in August last year in what was seen as a much needed boost to the country's revenues and a means of alleviating the pressure on export terminals in the Gulf.
But relentless attacks have made it difficult for the State Oil Marketing Organisation to meet its obligations and Iraq could revert to the previous system of sporadically auctioning off reserves stocked at the Ceyhan terminal.
The ministry said on February 17 that Iraq had frozen exports from the north because of repeated insurgent attacks, while exports via southern terminals were proceeding at 1.5 million barrels a day.
Insurgent sabotage has cost Iraq between seven and eight billion dollars in lost revenues since the US-led invasion of March 2003, according to ministry estimates.
Meanwhile, Tikrit report says: A suicide car bomber killed 10 Iraqi policemen after he drove into police headquarters in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit Thursday, as haggling over the top jobs in a new government mounted.
The bomber, who was disguised as a police officer, drove into the police compound and detonated his vehicle just as police were gathering for their morning parade.
"It was a suicide car bomb. A man claiming to be police showed up at the entrance and was allowed into the compound. Then he detonated," said a police source in Tikrit, 180 kilometres north of Baghdad.
"Eight cars are in flames and the building is severely damaged," he said, adding that the blast occurred at around 9:30 am (0630 GMT).
The director of Tikrit hospital, Emad Juburi, said they had received 10 dead and 35 wounded, all policemen.
"The suicide bomber managed to get into the headquarters' courtyard because he was wearing a police lieutenant's uniform. He detonated his vehicle in the middle of police who had gathered for the morning parade," Juburi said, citing the accounts of survivors.
The blast came as political haggling over the make-up of the new Iraqi government intensified in the capital, with the outgoing prime minister announcing the formation of a coalition to rival the election-winning Shiite list.
The United Iraqi Alliance had already picked the conservative leader of the Dawa religious party, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, as the Shiites' choice for the premiership, when Iyad Allawi's new "democratic" alliance was announced.
A senior Allawi advisor, Qassem Daoud, said it would be "a national democratic coalition to lead the democratic process which all Iraqis are looking for", but declined to say which other factions had signed up.
Officials from leading Kurdish and Sunni Arab parties expressed their readiness to cooperate with Jaafari and eagerness to obtain posts in his government, set to be the first Shiite-led administration in Iraqi history.
Baghdad message adds: Two US soldiers were killed in separate bomb blasts north of Baghdad Thursday, the US military said.
"A Task Force Liberty soldier was killed by an improvised explosive device about 7:30 am (0430 GMT)," said a statement, adding that the blast happened near Qaryat in Diyala province northeast of the capital.
Another soldier was killed and two wounded in a bomb attack near Samarra at about 9:00 am (0600 GMT), said another statement, without providing further details.
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