Ground Report

A 2m shark was pulled by a Iraqi fisherman from the mouth of an irrigation canal that joins the Euphrates River while he was out fishing with his sons. The Euphrates joins the Tigris River further east to form the Shatt al-Arab waterway, which flows south past Basra into the Gulf. Dr Mohamed Ajah, assistant dean of the college of science at Thi Qar University in Nassiriya, said barriers in river estuaries normally barred sharks from swimming upstream. Locals blamed the United Sates military for the shark’s presence. Tahseen Ali, a teacher, said there was a "75% chance" Americans had put the shark in the water. "This is very frightening for us. Our children always swim in the river and I believe that there are more sharks. I believe that America is behind this matter," said fisherman Hatim Karim