Explosion hits Turkish-Iraqi pipeline: report

(AFP) – 10 hours ago
ANKARA — An explosion ripped through a pipeline carrying oil from Iraq to southern Turkey on Saturday, sparking a fire, the Anatolia news agency reported.
The blast, whose origin remains unknown, hit a section of the pipeline near Midyat town in the southeastern province of Mardin, the agency said.
The pipeline has in the past been targeted by Kurdish insurgents active in the region.
Firefighters were called to douse the flames, Anatolia said. An investigation was under way.
The 970-kilometre (600-mile) pipeline runs from Iraq’s northern oil hub of Kirkuk to the port of Ceyhan on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, from where the crude is shipped to world markets by tanker.
The twin conduit, first inaugurated in 1976, carried 167.6 million barrels of oil last year, according to Turkish statistics.
Rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighting a 26-year-campaign for self-rule in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast, have in the past bombed the pipeline several times.
The PKK has significantly stepped up attacks against Turkish targets since May after jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan said he was abandoning efforts for peace with Turkey and the rebels called off a unilateral truce.
Some 45,000 people have been killed since the PKK picked up arms in 1984.