Violence hits Iraqi exports

By Vahe Petrossian

 26 July 2012 22:59 GMT

IRAQ was this week rocked by some of the worst violence since the departure of US troops, also temporarily losing its crude export capacity after a bomb attack against the main export pipeline transiting Turkey.

More than 100 people were killed and hundreds more wounded across Iraq on Sunday and Monday in a series of explosions against mainly Shia targets by what were assumed to be al-Qaeda extremists.

There was speculation that the violence may be linked to the escalating fighting in neighbouring Syria. Baghdad supports the Assad regime. Iraq is populated mainly by Shias, while Syria has a mostly Sunni population ruled by the minority Alawites, close to the Shia branch of Islam.

The pipeline bombing over the weekend took place in Turkey’s Diyarbakir province and was…

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