oil-loading terminal

Iranian Silkworm missiles have been blamed for three attacks on targets in Kuwaiti waters in the last nine days, including a strike that damaged an oil-loading terminal on Thursday.

The company, whose headquarters are in Coral Gables, Fla., guards the 800-mile-long Tran-Alaska Pipeline, its pumping stations and its oil-loading terminal in Valdez, Alaska.

The missile hit the tanker Sungari, which flies the Liberian flag, in the starboard side while anchored off Al Ahmadi, Kuwait's main oil-loading terminal, shipping officials told Reuters.

Of all the Iraqi battles with the coalition forces so far, the Baghdad leadership has been proudest of the fighting in Umm Qasr, perhaps because it was the first target of the invading land forces, and also because it is a town of a few thousand inhabitants that depends on oil-loading terminals and cargo docks.