Iraq saboteurs attack pipeline, fuel tanks

Saboteurs set on fire fuel storage tanks south of the capital this morning, while an oil products pipeline to the north was still…

Saboteurs set on fire fuel storage tanks south of the capital this morning, while an oil products pipeline to the north was still out of service after a similar attack, witnesses and officials said.

An explosion ignited a blaze in the tanks in Ur district of Baghdad in a pre-dawn attack, the witnesses said. There were no casualties but hundreds of thousands of litres of fuel were burnt.

An Oil Ministry official said a pipeline carrying oil products to a refinery in Baghdad was attacked on Friday in the al-Mashahdah area, some 32 km north of Baghdad.

"Technicians are still estimating the damages," he said, refusing to give any details on the attack.

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The sabotage of oil products facilities came at the height of a gasoline shortage crisis. Ordinary Iraqis have to queue for hours to fill up their cars with petrol.

Attacks have halted Iraqi oil exports via a pipeline to Turkey and hampered efforts to restore power and water supplies since the war that toppled Saddam Hussein in April.

Lack of basic services is fuelling anti-American feelings among parts of the population.

US military sources and Iraqi officials at the northern oil company denied media reports the northern export pipeline had also been attacked.