http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LAD921697.htmBAGHDAD, Aug 19 (Reuters) - A Shi'ite uprising forced the Iraqi government to keep a main southern pipeline shut for the 10th day on Thursday, halving the country's oil exports, officials said.
"The situation in Basra is still deemed too dangerous to operate the line, although headquarter employees returned to work today and events in Najaf are encouraging," said a South Oil Company official, who declined to be identified.
Anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr proposed that his supporters lay down their arms if U.S. forces pulled back from around the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf. The city, a centre of Shi'ism, has been the focus of a U.S. offensive against Sadr and his followers.
In the north, where sabotage has kept an export pipeline to Turkey mostly shut since last year's U.S.-led invasion, gunmen attacked the North Oil Company security headquarters overnight, killing one officer and injuring two, police said.
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