Report: Turkey Foils Kurd Rebel Attack on Oil Pipeline

Turkish security forces foiled an attempted bombing blamed on Kurdish rebels on a vital oil pipeline in the southeast of the country on Sunday, local security sources said.

Three explosive charges weighing a total of 200 kilograms were found along the pipeline carrying oil from Iraq and were later defused by bomb disposal experts.

The attempted attack in the province of Mardin was blamed by the security sources on rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has targeted the pipeline several times in the past.

The pipeline transports 450,000 to 500,000 barrels of crude oil a day between Kirkuk in northern Iraq and the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

Listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and much of the international community, the PKK took up arms for Kurdish independence in southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.