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| Iraq |
| Iraq oil pipeline ’blown up’ |
| 2003-06-22 |
| Sabotage has been blamed for an explosion at a pipeline which supplies oil to the Iraqi capital. Flames were seen shooting into the sky after the blast late on Saturday near the town of Hit nearly 140 kilometres (90 miles) north-west of Baghdad. US officials say there are no reports of American casualties, but in what appears to be a separate incident in the same area, two American soldiers were hurt when their vehicle struck a landmine. Meanwhile, a US soldier was killed and another was wounded in a grenade attack on a military convoy about 20km south of Baghdad, the US military said. Local Iraqis and oil officials told the BBC's Caroline Hawley that the pipeline explosion was blown up deliberately. Iraq's oil infrastructure has come under attack several times - most recently 10 days ago when another supply route from Iraq to Turkey was damaged. Iraq resumed limited oil sales on Sunday from storage tanks at Ceyhan in Turkey - the first Iraqi oil export since the US-led invasion began on 20 March. But Iraqi officials say they will not be able to start pumping oil from the northern fields of Kirkuk to Ceyhan because the pipeline remains damaged. Oil officials said the incident could mean the return of fuel shortages that swept Baghdad and the rest of Iraq after US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein. Petrol queues eased only recently after imports filled the gap. The blast will also affect power production at Baghdad's major electrical plant, the head of the refinery that supplies the power station told the French news agency AFP. The head of the Northern Oil Company Adel al-Qazzaz said that repairs to the damaged pipeline would take another three or four days. The export of crude oil is the primary way for Iraq to secure foreign revenue and get its defunct economy back on track. The United Nations' recent decision to lift all sanctions on Iraqi exports other than arms has paved the way for the battered country to begin cashing in on its natural resources once again. But damage to oil installations during post-war looting has squashed hopes of a rapid build-up in the quantity of exports. |
| Posted by:Bulldog |