Saboteurs blow up oil pipeline

Saboteurs blew up a domestic oil pipeline in northern Iraq today, sending plumes of smoke leaping into the sky and forcing technicians to shut it down, officials said.

Firefighters struggled to put out the blaze after the attack near Beiji, 250 kilometres (155 miles) north of Baghdad, an official with the Northern Oil Co said on condition of anonymity.

The pipeline carries crude from oilfields outside the city of Kirkuk to a refinery in Beiji. The strike was not expected to affect exports, the official added.

In a statement today, the US military confirmed the explosion occurred and said the pipeline had been shut down. There were no reports of injuries.

Insurgents have repeatedly targeted Iraq’s crucial oil infrastructure in a bid to hamper reconstruction efforts and destabilise US-backed interim authorities.