Mystery blast sets Iraq oil pipeline ablaze

An explosion set fire to a vital pipeline linking Iraq's northern and southern oilfields, and a separate landmine blast wounded two US soldiers, a US military spokesman said yesterday.

He said fire was raging after the pipeline explosion near the town of Hit, 140km northwest of Baghdad, but he had no word on what caused it or when it happened.

"The cause of the fire was still under investigation," the spokesman said. There were no reports of casualties.

The two soldiers, from the 3rd Armoured Cavalry, were hurt when their Humvee vehicle struck a landmine in Hit yesterday. The spokesman had no word on their condition.

US forces have been plagued by hit-and-run attacks in the Sunni Muslim towns north and west of Baghdad, where Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated government had its tribal roots.

Eighteen American soldiers have been killed in hostile action since the United States declared major combat over in Iraq on May 1, and chronic insecurity has hampered efforts to revive the economy.

An Iraqi oil ministry official said he had no word on the blast, but that the section reported to be affected was part of a strategic link between northern and southern oilfields.

The main export pipeline from Iraq's Kirkuk oilfields to Turkey was damaged earlier this month by explosions and fire, which US officials said were caused by a gas leak, not sabotage. An oil ministry official said on Thursday the pipeline was in working order again after repairs.

Postwar looting and sabotage at oil facilities have delayed the resumption of Iraq's oil exports and will keep shipments well below pre-war levels for several months, officials say.

Iraq, which exported around two million barrels per day (bpd) before the US-led war, is due to relaunch oil sales from the eight million barrels stored in Turkish tanks.

Iraq's de facto oil minister, Thamir Ghadhban, said it would take 18 months - and well over $US1 billion - to restore pre-war production capacity of three million bpd.

A week ago, US forces launched Operation Desert Scorpion in a fresh bid to find weapons and curb attacks on American troops, while wooing Iraqi civilians with aid projects.

They have also intensified the hunt for Saddam since seizing his top aide, Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, on Monday. Mahmud is reported to have told his captors that the deposed ruler and his two sons had survived the war.

Paul Bremer, Iraq's US administrator, said on Saturday the issue of Saddam's fate needed to be resolved one way or another, because uncertainty emboldened his supporters.

"It gives them an ability to say Saddam is still alive, he's coming back, and we're coming back, and what that does is it disinclines people who might otherwise want to co-operate with us from cooperating with us," Bremer told reporters on a visit to neighbouring Jordan.

A US military spokesman said on Saturday that 90 Desert Scorpion raids had captured 540 people.

The same day, a previously unknown group calling itself the Iraqi National Front of Fedayeen vowed to intensify assaults on US troops until they leave Iraq.

US officials blame the attacks on Saddam loyalists, though there is widespread resentment at the US occupation and the way the military conducts raids and detains people.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq