Oman health min puts death toll from clashes at one

Clashes between police and protesters killed only one person in an industrial port town on Sunday, Oman's health minister told Reuters on Monday, disputing a report that six people had died.

"It is only one," Ahmed bin Mohammed al-Saidi said, adding that 20 people were wounded. He said police used rubber bullets, not live ammunition as some witnesses have said.

An emergency room doctor at Sohar's main state hospital had said that six people had died.

Earlier reports on Sunday had put the death toll at two.

The roads to Gulf state's key industrial area Sohar, home to a refinery port and aluminum factory is blocked by protesters, witnesses said on Monday.

The unrest in the northern port of Sohar, Oman's main industrial center, was a rare outbreak of discontent in the normally sleepy sultanate and followed a wave of pro-democracy protests across the Arab world.

In Sohar, a main supermarket was burning on Monday morning after being looted, witnesses said. Troops deployed around the town but were not intervening to disperse protesters.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said, trying to ease tensions in U.S. ally Oman, reshuffled his cabinet on Saturday, a week after a small protest in the capital Muscat. He has ruled for four decades, exercising absolute power. Political parties are banned.

The government, under pressure over its response to the Sohar protests, pledged on Sunday to create 50,000 more government jobs and hand out unemployment benefits of $390 a month to job seekers.

In the meantime, shipments of refined crude from Oman's port of Sohar are continuing, a port spokeswoman said on Monday after anti-government protests blocked roads leading to the key industrial area in the Gulf oil producer.

The port ships 160,000 barrels per day of a range of products from the Sohar refinery, she said.

"It is true the protesters are making a very non-violent protest," the spokeswoman told Reuters. "Marine traffic in and out is not affected at the moment."

Oman is a non-OPEC oil exporter which pumps around 850,000 barrels of oil per day, and has strong military and political ties to Washington.

Oman's oil is exported through its port of Mina al-Fahal, where Oman also has a smaller refinery with a capacity of around 85,000 bpd.

Oman has announced investments to increase output and its crude already has international significance because it is used as a pricing benchmark.

The port spokeswoman said sustained protests, blocking trucks and staff from gaining access to the port, could eventually affect marine traffic.

Crude reaches the refinery by pipeline.