A bomb exploded Sunday underneath the pipeline running from oil fields near the Iraqi city Kirkuk, 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, said an oil company source. The incident occurred Sunday morning under the primary pipeline transporting crude from oil fields near Kirkuk to refineries in Bayji to its west, said Nosseir Abdullah Mohamed, a technician for the Northern Iraq Oil company. A team specialized in protecting oil resources and Iraqi military forces had the ensuing blaze under control by Sunday evening, but had not extinguished it. Mohamed added that the targeted pipeline had only resumed operation on a trial basis Friday after being shut down for five months owing to repeated attacks. New security measures had been implemented and officials were giving the line a trial run ahead of full operation. U.S. and Iraqi forces on Sunday killed seven armed men, injured 11 others and took into custody 16 during extensive raids on the area surrounding Karbala. An Iraqi military source said the incidents occurred when some 800 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers and Iraqi policemen launched raids in several cities near Karbala, 100 kilometres south of Baghad. Among the cities where the raids took place were Hillah, Iskandriya and Mussayib. Earlier Iraqi security sources said more than 100 suspected insurgents have been detained in and around Karbala . The Iraqi Ministry of Defence had previously announced its forces had seized a substantial cache of weaponry and explosives near Karbala. -- SP 2231 Local Time 1931 GMT
