Basra pipeline sabotaged, oil flow stops

BASRA, Iraq, June 15 (UPI) -- Iraqi crude oil exports through the Persian Gulf were halted Tuesday while workers repaired pipelines damaged by saboteurs, CNN reported.

A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition said one pipeline was sabotaged by an explosion, so engineers stopped the flow of oil from it, as well as from another pipeline as a safety precaution.

It was not immediately determined how long the pipelines would be closed.

Iraq's two offshore terminals were themselves the target of an attack by suicide bombers in April. That attack failed, but two U.S. sailors and a U.S. Coast Guard member were killed.