Iraq-Turkey pipeline hit by Kurd rebel bomb attack

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Kurdish guerrillas launched a bomb attack on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline linking Iraq and Turkey on Friday, halting oil exports, sources from the Turkish energy ministry and pipeline company Botas told Reuters.

They said the attack, which triggered a large fire, occurred at 8:30 pm (6:30 pm British time) on Friday evening near Midyat in Mardin province, southeast Turkey.


No details on the scale of damage were available. Local officials in Mardin declined to comment.

Separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels have claimed responsibility in the past for similar attacks on pipelines in eastern Turkey.

The PKK, regarded as a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union as well as Turkey, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 with the aim of carving out an ethnic homeland in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey.

The blast damaged a 46-inch pipeline, the sources said.

Reuters