The attack comes on the back of threats by the Abu Baseer and Abdul Jandal group which had threatened to kill “Iraqi, Arab and foreign truck drivers transporting oil to Iraq from Syria and Turkey”.

Speaking to reporters Iskandariya police Lieutenant Mohammed Masudi said, “Gunmen opened fire on a convoy of petrol tankers on Saturday, setting all five trucks ablaze and damaging three Iraqi National Guard vehicles escorting the convoy.”

“The attack prompted an intense fire fight between the insurgents and the Iraqi forces. Both sides [have] sustained casualties, as did the truck drivers, whose nationalities [are] not immediately known,” added Mohammed.

The hereto unknown Abu Baseer and Abdul Jandal Group had earlier issued a declaration which stated, “Iraq [is] rich in its oil and refineries and there is no need to import petroleum from neighboring countries. That is the reason [we have] decided to ban all oil derivatives from entering Iraq from neighboring Syria and Turkey, as well as to prevent Iraqi oil exports to the two countries and the northern Kurdish part of Iraq.”

“[We vow] to kill all drivers who refuse to heed to the warning,” it added.