The Hindu : New blast hits oil pipeline

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Tuesday, Jun 24, 2003

International

International

New blast hits oil pipeline

Baghdad June 23. Unknown assailants have attacked a fuel pipeline in western Iraq near the border with Syria, an Iraqi Oil Ministry official said on Monday, warning such attacks could become a daily occurrence.

``The Ministry is aware of an attack near Al-Abidiyah al-Gharbiya not far from the Syrian border,'' the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. ``It seems there are people prepared to mount such attacks every day on Iraq's pipelines,'' he added, after a gas duct exploded west of Baghdad late on Saturday in a blast described by residents as sabotage. He did not give more details about the latest attack.

A pipeline passes near Al-Abidiyah al-Gharbiya, 300 km northwest of Baghdad, carrying Iraqi oil to the Syrian terminal of Banias on the Mediterranean Sea and to Lebanon, according to infrastructure plans.

U.S. military officials said they were unable to confirm the attack.

An explosion ripped through a gas pipeline near the town of Hit, 150 km west of Baghdad late on Saturday, in what residents said was an attempt to sabotage U.S. efforts to use Iraq's oil revenues to rebuild the country.

Pay for soldiers

Meanwhile, Iraqi soldiers, first routed and then sacked by the U.S., finally won a battle today when the coalition agreed to pay back salaries, under threat of violence. ``The first payments to former soldiers will begin on July 14,'' the Coalition Provisional Authority said in a statement.

The money would range from $50 to $250 for 200,000-250,000 former soldiers. ``The payments will be paid monthly and the recipients must renounce Ba'athism and violence,'' the statement added.

It also gave details of the new Iraqi army the U.S. authorities are to establish, adding that recruiting for that force would begin next week.

``A division of 12,000 soldiers will be trained and be operational in one year,'' the Authority said. — AFP

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