Security forces reopen Iraq's Umm Qasr port: sources

Iraqi security forces dispersed by force on Friday protesters who had been blocking the entrance to the country's main Gulf Umm Qasr port near Basra and reopened it, port officials said.

Employees were able to enter the port, the entrance to which protesters had been blocking since Monday, but operations had not resumed yet, the sources said.

Umm Qasr was previously blocked from Oct. 29 to Nov. 9 with a brief resumption of operations between Nov. 7-9. It receives imports of grain, vegetable oils and sugar shipments that feed a country largely dependent on imported food.