KIRKUK (AFP) — Armed saboteurs set an oil well ablaze Sunday near the disputed northern city of Kirkuk, an Iraqi petroleum industry source said.

Gunmen overpowered soldiers guarding an oil field 45 kilometers (30 miles) west of Kirkuk, planted explosives at a well head and set them off, the Northern Iraqi Oil Company said.

A spokesman for the national oil protection force, an army unit,said six soldiers had been disarmed and tied up by attackers who fled following the blast.

The troops, including three officers, were detained for interrogation, Captain Abdallah Aziz said.

More than 100 firefighters rushed to the scene, but more than two hours later the well was still burning.

Sand barriers were laid to protect neighboring installations, said the oil company, adding that escaping gas made fighting such blazes very difficult.

In early 2002, six oil fires burned for a month and a half and required the intervention of Canadian and US experts to finally put them out.

Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani, meanwhile, announced Sunday that the Iraqi oil ministry lost 289 employees last year, while 179 others were injured during attacks on its facilities.

"There is an abundance of terrorist attacks on oil establishments. They are trying to hit and hamper our economic potential," he said in reference to recurrent attacks on the country's oil infrastructure.

In the first week of January alone, pipelines were targetted by 30 attacks or attempts to steal oil, he said.