Risking flames and mines, Iraq oil workers battle to cap burning wells

By John Davison QAYYARA, Iraq (Reuters) - His face blackened and helmet coated in soot, Hussein Saleh watched the oil fields of his home town in northern Iraq burn, belching up thick smoke that blotted out the sun. "I've worked in oil for 30 years and I've never seen anything like this," 57-year-old Saleh said, standing close enough to the flames to feel the heat. "Daesh (Islamic State) just put explosives on the wellheads and blew them up," he said.