News Summary: Blast shuts down pipeline in Turkey

The Associated Press

PIPELINE PROBLEMS: For the second time in as many weeks, suspicion is falling on Kurdish rebels for an explosion that has forced Turkey to shut down a pipeline carrying oil from Iraq to international markets.

BLAME GAME: Authorities suspect the blast was the result of sabotage, but will not elaborate. Turkey's state-run TRT television claimed that the pipeline was blown up by Kurdish rebels who are fighting for autonomy in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast. A news agency close to the rebels said on its website Monday that the Kurdish insurgents have claimed responsibility for the blast.

PATTERN OF DISRUPTION: The rebels have bombed pipelines in Turkey in the past. They were also believed to be behind a similar explosion on the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline on July 20 which shut down oil flows from Iraq for days.