BAGHDAD, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Oil Ministry on Wednesday said oil firms in Iraq's southern province of Basra are operating normally, undisturbed by the rocket attack on the headquarters of an Iraqi oil firm near a site housing several international oil companies.
"The operations of Iraqi and foreign companies were not affected by the rocket attack," Asim Jihad, a spokesman of the Oil Ministry, said in a statement emailed to Xinhua.
Jihad said the ministry is keen to provide a safe environment for the operations of the oil companies in the province, adding it has launched a probe into the attack that targeted "an Iraqi firm, not a foreign one."
Earlier in the day, a local security source told Xinhua that a Katyusha rocket hit a site housing several international oil companies, including the U.S. giant ExxonMobil, in al-Burjesia area west the city of Basra.
Later on, the media office of the Joint Operations Command said a Katyusha rocket landed on headquarters of the Iraqi Oil Drilling Company, wounding three Iraqi workers.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks that came at a time when tensions between the United States and Iran reached a boiling level.
