Saboteurs hit pipeline in Northern Iraq

Saboteurs attacked an oil pipeline in northern Iraq, setting it on fire, officials said today.

The incident happened late yesterday about eight miles from the Beiji oil refinery, said Capt. Mohammed Salam with the firefighters brigade in Kirkuk. Beiji is 155 miles north of Baghdad.

An official at the state-run Northern Oil Company also confirmed the attack, but did not say whether the pipeline was used for exporting oil or not.

Iraq’s oil industry, which provides desperately-needed money for Iraq’s reconstruction efforts, has been the target of repeated attacks by rebels in recent months.