The agency quoted Kuwaiti environmental officials as saying that several oil wells in southern Iraq have been set ablaze by Iraqi soldiers.

The Fox television reported that there were some oil wells on fire in southern Iraq and the cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Earlier on Thursday in Washington, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters that Iraqi forces may have set three or four oil wells on fire in the massive petroleum fields of southern Iraq.

"I have seen indications and reports from people that the Iraqi regime may have set fire to as many as three or four of the oil wells in the south," he said.

The oil fields in southern Iraq account for 60 percent of total crude oil production.

(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2003)