Pipeline blast causes huge Iraq fire

[Purveyor]

From correspondents in Kirkuk, Iraq
November 24, 2003

AN important gas pipeline had been blown up near Iraq's northern oil centre of Kirkuk, causing a huge fire, oil company officials said.

The head of the fire department at the Kirkuk-based North Oil Company, Jumaa Ahmed, confirmed an explosive device caused the blast on the pipeline, which transports gas from the Jambur oil field to the refinery in Baiji, 250km north of Baghdad.

The blaze was so big that its glow could be seen in the night sky from Kirkuk, 30km to the north of Jambur.

The explosion is latest in a long series of attacks against Iraq's oil infrastructure, blamed by the US-led coalition ruling Iraq on loyalists of toppled president Saddam Hussein and Islamic militants.



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