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21 July 2012

Pipeline Fire Halts Iraqi Crude Supplies to Turkey

An official says an explosion and fire has shut down a pipeline that carries oil from Iraq to the Mediterranean.

An Energy Ministry official said no one was injured in the explosion and fire that occurred late Friday. The explosion hit a section of the pipeline near the southern town of Midyat and was quickly put out.

The official said Saturday the blast was most likely caused by sabotage.

"We have cut the oil flow," the governor of Mardin province, Mardin Turhan Ayvaz said. "There are no deaths or injuries. Fire fighters are there on the spot." The 970-kilometre- (600-mile-) long pipeline has been the target of regular attacks blamed by Ankara on the Kurdistan Peoples' Party or PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and by much of the international community.

The group took up arms in Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.

The pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan was last attacked at the end of June.