ADEN, Yemen, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Unidentified gunmen blew up a major oil pipeline in southern Yemen's oil-rich province of Shabwa, causing a huge explosion, a government official told Xinhua on Monday.
The local government source said on condition of anonymity that "a group of unknown gunmen sabotaged the main pipeline in the coastal district of Rudum in Shabwa late on Sunday night," adding that he believed "the gunmen belong to terrorist groups active in the region."
He confirmed that the explosion sparked a massive fire in the area as firefighters were dispatched to the site.
The attack targeted the main pipeline that connects the Uqla oil field in Shabwa with the Al-Nashima exporting port located on the coast of the Rudum district on the Arabian Sea.
The Yemeni government has not commented on the incident so far.
The oil and gas production from Yemen's fields stopped completely as the war started in late 2014, and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government has resumed limited production in the provinces of Hadramout and Shabwa over recent years. ■
