Turkey, Iraq: Oil Pipeline Explodes

July 3, 2010
An explosion ripped through a pipeline carrying oil from Iraq to southern Turkey on July 3, sparking a fire, AFP reported. The blast hit a section of the pipeline near Midyat town in the southeastern province of Mardin. The origins of the blast are unknown, but Kurdish insurgents active in the region have targeted the pipeline in the past. An investigation is currently under way. The 970-kilometer (600-mile) pipeline runs from Kirkuk to the port of Ceyhan on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.