They were unusually broad in scope, striking not just Baghdad but also the western Sunni city of Fallujah, the ethnically contested oil-rich city of Kirkuk and towns in the predominantly Shiite south.

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For another, they agreed that the ethnically mixed and oil-rich governorate of Kirkuk, which many of them say is an integral part of Kurdistan, should not join any regional block at least for now.

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The conflict is usually described as pitting indigenous Bolivians in the uplands against descendants of Spain in the lowlands, or poor versus rich, but in fact Santa Cruz is ethnically mixed and average incomes in the two cities are comparable.

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Last month, the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND) -- an ethnically-based militia operating in Nigeria's oil-rich southern region -- launched "Operation Dark February" (which carried over into March), promising to bring about an "Armageddon in the Nigerian petroleum history".

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