Second Iraqi Oil Pipeline Blast Reported
VOA News
23 Jun 2003, 13:26 UTC
An oil official in Iraq says an explosion near the Syrian border has crippled another Iraqi oil pipeline.
The official offered few details of the latest explosion - the second since Saturday - and U.S. officials have yet to confirm the report. American authorities are still probing Saturday's blast, which shut down a key fuel pipeline west of Baghdad.
Iraq began exporting oil again Sunday for the first time since U.S.-led forces began the campaign to oust Saddam Hussein's regime in March.
The developments come as U.S.-led civil administrators say they will begin recruiting next week for a new Iraqi army to replace Saddam Hussein's disbanded forces.
Top U.S. advisor Walter Slocomb said an initial division of 12,000 men will be operational next year, and that the army would grow to about 40,000 in three years.
Mr. Slocomb also said the first payments to former soldiers from Saddam Hussein's government will begin next month.
Officials say the monthly payments for as many as a quarter-million unemployed troops will range from $50-250 a month. To qualify, recipients will be required to renounce the now-banned Baath party and all violent activity.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials are reported conducting DNA tests to determine whether Saddam Hussein or his two sons were in a small convoy destroyed last week in a U.S. missile attack near the Syrian border.
Some information for this report provided by AP, Reuters and AFP.
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