Al-Qaim
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Located nearly 400km northwest of Baghdad near the Syrian border, al-Qaim was reportedly the site of Iraq's refined Uranium Ore production from 1984 through 1990; it was completely destroyed during a 1991 US bombing campaign during the Gulf War.
The "Chemical Fertilizer Complex" was originally built by Belgian contractors in January 1976, and by 1982 it was processing Phosphate from the nearby Akashat mine. That year, Iraq decided to build a Uranium extraction facility on the same site, and hired Belgian contractors Mebshem to build the structure, completed in 1984.
Unused Uranium from al-Qaim was stored in nearby Tuwaitha
Iraq War
In the most recent war to engulf Iraq, al-Qaim has been a centre of suicide bombings and attacks against US military personnel at the nearby military base of Camp Gannon which sits in Husaybah right on the Syrian border.
On April 7th, 2005 Iraqi insurgents captured the city forcing the local police and US-supported Iraqi Soldiers to abandon the city. On April 11th, American forces destroyed the regional water-treatment plant and cut off al-Qaim's electricity, distributing leaflets prior to their assault stating '"Our bullets do not discriminate between women and children in the war which will crush the insurgents. Therefore, stay in your homes and do not give them aid. They also threatened to bomb the local hospital if any of the wounded insurgents were treated at it. The following day, American forces bombed al-Rummana just north of al-Qaim, killing twenty including seven children, six women and three old men. In a recent effort to 'flush' insurgents out of al-Qaim, US forces launched a week-long Operation Matador, in which they faced extremely stiff resistance from local Iraqi fighters determined to repel them.
 | This Iraq-related article is a stub. You can help Biocrawler by expanding it (http://www.biocrawler.com/w/index.php?title=Al-Qaim&action=edit). |
 | This Middle East location article is a stub. You can help Biocrawler by expanding it (http://www.biocrawler.com/w/index.php?title=Al-Qaim&action=edit). |
