Yemen oil pipeline attacked

Blast: a pipeline in Yemen's Sirwah area was attacked late on Friday

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News Wires

 28 January 2013 02:32 GMT

Unidentified attackers blew up Yemen's main oil pipeline, forcing the country to shut down one of its most lucrative sources of income, according to reports.

Yemen's oil and gas pipelines have been repeatedly sabotaged by insurgents and tribesmen since anti-government protests created a power vacuum in 2011, causing fuel shortages and slashing export earnings for the impoverished country.

Reuters reported witnesses as saying the pipeline linking production fields in the central Maarib province to the Red Sea was attacked on Friday night.

"We heard a blast in the Sirwah area followed by flames rising from the pipeline," one tribal witness told the news agency.

Yemen's stability is a priority for the US and its Gulf Arab allies because of…

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