Bahrain says militants hit oil pipeline, opening new front
An explosion ripped through a pipeline belonging to Bahrain's state-run oil company and sent flames shooting up into the night sky, with government officials on Saturday blaming the blast on an attack by militants guided by Iran.
No one was injured in the explosion late Friday night near the Shiite village of Buri and no militant group immediately claimed the blast. However, it potentially opens a new front in the low-level insurgency plaguing Bahrain since its 2011 Arab Spring protests.
The explosion damaged cars and nearby buildings, forcing firefighters to evacuate those close to the flames in Buri, just outside of the capital, Manama. Authorities later extinguished the blaze on the pipeline belonging to the state-run Bahrain Petroleum Co.
Bahrain's interior minister, Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, said in a statement that the blast was "the latest example of a terrorist act performed by terrorists in direct contact with, and under instruction from, Iran." He did not say what caused the explosion, nor did he name any suspects.
