Militants blow up oil pipeline in Yemen

Unidentified gunmen today blew up a major pipeline transporting crude oil from the southern Yemeni province off Shabwah. A security official source in the province said unidentified gunmen targeted the pipeline extending from the area of Aayad to Bir Ali port on the coast of the Arabian Sea. The source added that the explosion caused a stoppage of crude pumping through the 204 km-long pipeline. The attack came three days after unidentified gunmen detonated a pipeline transporting oil in the eastern Yemeni province of Hadramaut. Yemeni provinces have been the scene of many acts of sabotage over the past two years mainly against crude oil pipelines which cause stoppage oil oil export thus creating economic troubles to the country's economy which mainly relies on oil revenues. In another development Yemeni militants linked to Al Qaeda organization today attacked with a car bomb the security department building in the southern Yemeni province of Aden, security source said. In a press statement, the source said the car bomb, driven by a suicide bomber, exploded at the main gate of the security department in Khormaksar. The suicide bomber was killed in the blast which did not result in casualties among the ranks of the department's security personnel but caused huge damage to the department's premises and the adjacent buildings, adding that security forces arrested two militants planning to attack the security department building with fire arms. The statement added that another explosion targeted a security post in Mansoura city but did not result in the fall of victims. Source: QNA