Iraqi oil pipeline hit by bomb

A bomb struck a pipeline carrying oil to refineries in southern Iraq today, wounding eight oil guards and disrupting the flow of crude, police said.

The explosion happened at about 8.30pm in the Jilawiya area, 30 miles (50km) south of Baghdad, causing a huge fire.

The attacked pipeline carries crude oil from the Latifiyah storage facility to refineries in southern Iraq, a police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to release the information.

Pumping from Latifiyah was stopped due to the explosion.

The blast was expected to affect the production of the southern refineries, according to a Southern Oil Co official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Oil pipelines have frequently been targeted by insurgents or saboteurs trying to pilfer oil in the war-torn country.

Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, an Iraqi-born Shiite Muslim cleric in Lebanon, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, on March 31 banning attacks on public utilities in Iraq – mainly the oil industry.

Ayatollah Fadlallah, who enjoys some influence among Iraq’s Shiites, called for them to work for stability in their country.

“We stress the contents of the fatwa that it is prohibited to attack properties and public wealth, whether it is oil wealth or other types of wealth, and attacks on people, their lives, security, stability, property or honoUr,” he said.

Iraq sits on the world’s third-largest oil reserves, totalling more than 115 billion barrels. But the industry lacks modern equipment and training after decades of UN sanctions, war and Saddam Hussein’s ruinous rule.