The Security Media Cell in Iraq announced today, Saturday, that the authorities managed to dismantle the mine that was attached to an oil tanker off the Iraqi coast, two days after its discovery.

The government-affiliated cell confirmed, in a statement, that an investigation had been opened to find out the circumstances of this incident.

The authorities said that they discovered this marine mine attached to an oil tanker chartered by the Iraqi government company SOMO.

Yesterday, the authorities stated that it was not clear how the mine was attached to the tanker, which is parked in the waiting area for ships in international waters off the Iraqi coast.

For its part, the state-owned SOMO Corporation issued today a statement clarifying that the aforementioned tanker is "leased by a company contracting with the Oil Marketing Company to be a floating tank for the black oil product (fuel oil) produced by Iraqi refineries for export purposes and handling it to the tankers of international companies that buy it."

"Consequently, SOMO denies that the tanker is heading to the (Iraqi) crude oil export ports," the statement added.

The company indicated that the tanker has been located in the Al-Khithaf area near Khor Al-Zubair since the date of the fifth of last November, and has not come now from any of the ports of the regional neighboring countries, unlike what some sites have mentioned.