'Bombs defused' at Iraq oil pipeline

(FILES) A member of the Oil Protection Police leaves the site of a burning oil pipeline near the northern city of Kirkuk, 03 July 2006. The pipeline was sabotaged by insurgents, according to witnesses in the area. Ten Iraqi policemen were killed and 22 others wounded when they were targeted by a suicide car bomber as they headed home from protecting an oil installation on April 15, 2009 said a police commander.AFP PHOTO/MARWAN IBRAHIM

Targeted: the Kirkuk pipeline has been repeatedly attacked by insurgents

MARWAN IBRAHIM

News Wires

 08 August 2012 14:14 GMT

Iraqi police defused four makeshift bombs planted beside an oil pipeline carrying crude from a major oilfield near Iraq's northern city of Kirkuk on Wednesday, security and oil officials said.

The bombs were discovered near pipelines that carry oil from the Bai Hassan oilfield to degassing stations in Kirkuk, officials at state-run North Oil Company (NOC) said.

"Workers at Bai Hassan oilfield noticed four weird devices near the oil pipelines. Police explosives experts were called and discovered the devices were bombs linked to timers," an official at NOC told Reuters.

The bombs were capable of causing extensive damage, oil officials said.

Bai Hassan oilfield was attacked last June when two bombs exploded near two wells.

On Sunday, an explosion on a pipeline carrying about a quarter of Iraqi crude exports from…

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