Iranian troops have withdrawn from oil well, Iraqi official says

AFP - Iranian troops who on Friday occupied a disputed oil well on the Iraq border slipped away during the night, a senior official of Iraq's Maysan province told AFP Sunday.

"The Iranian troops left overnight and the workers of the oil company  returned to the well on Sunday," said Maysam Lafta, provincial chief of security and defence.

On Friday, Iraq's state-owned South Oil Co in the southeastern city of Amara said that an Iranian force had arrived at the field and taken control of the Well 4.

Baghdad demanded that "Tehran pull back the armed men who occupied Well No 4" and condemned the incident as "a violation of Iraqi sovereignty."

Iran rejected allegations it had occupied an Iraqi oil well.

Well 4 lies in disputed territory about 500 metres (yards) from an Iranian border fort and about one kilometre from an Iraqi border fort, according to US military officials in the area.