Tribesmen living near the Gharraf oil field in Dhi Qar province shot a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) and heavy machine gun bullets at police in anger over water shortages, as environmental issues threaten to aggravate instability in southern Iraq.
Armed men from the Shuweilat tribe used an RPG and a PKC machine gun to fire indirect shots at a police patrol near an irrigation canal in Rifai district on Dec. 6, according to a local police officer and an activist in the area.