Yemen oil pipeline pumping again after bomb damage repaired

28 Sep, 2013

SANAA: Yemen's main oil export pipeline has started working again after damage caused by a bomb attack earlier this month was repaired, security and oil sources said on Saturday.

Tribesmen attacked the pipeline in central Maarib province on Sept. 14 their fourth assault on it in a month halting flows to the Ras Isa terminal on the Red Sea.

Groups often damage or destroy pipelines to press the government to provide jobs, settle land disputes or free relatives from prison.

The impoverished country which relies on crude exports to finance up to 70 percent of budget spending - is struggling to reassert state control against one of the most active franchises of the al Qaeda network founded by Osama bin Laden. It is also facing a growing secessionist movement in the south.

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