Gunmen Blow Up Another Oil Pipeline in Southern Iraq

A bomb struck an oil pipeline Thursday in Iraq's southern city of Basra where Iraqi security forces have been clashing with Shiite militia fighters, an oil official said, the second such attack this week.

Despite the turbulence, Iraq's oil minister assured international oil companies that ongoing clashes would not affect oil exports and drilling operations.

"The security situation in Basra is still unstable ... but this has not reflected negatively on works at oil output and export installations," Hussein al-Shahristani told the U.S.-funded Radio Sawa.

Al-Shahristani said his ministry has more than 12,000 police "who are on high alert and deployed around oil fields and pipelines."

The bomb exploded underneath the Zubair-1 pipeline that sends crude oil from the Basra Zubair oil field to tanks for Iraq's two exporting terminals on the Gulf: al-Umaiya and Basra, according to an official in Basra.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information, said the effect of Thursday's 10 a.m. blast could have an impact on Iraq's oil exports but the extent was uncertain. More