Middle East News

Iraq denies firing rockets at Kuwaiti port

Aug 26, 2011, 9:45 GMT

Baghdad - The Iraqi army denied Friday reports that three rockets were launched from the southern Iraqi city of Basra at the disputed port of Mubarak in Kuwait.

Earlier Friday, three Katyusha rockets reportedly hit a small border area between Kuwait and Iraq.

'The Office of the Armed Forces' General Command denies news that rockets were fired at the Mubarak port from the city of Basra,' the official Al Iraqi TV reported Friday.

Kuwait began constructing the port in April near Iraq's territorial waters close to the Gulf, which has been a subject of dispute between the two oil-producing states.

Iraq says the port interferes with shipping lanes to its own ports.

But Kuwait says the port is being built on its land and within its territorial waters.

Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. But even after the US-led 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam, the relationship between the two countries remains uneasy.

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