At least 30 people were wounded on October 31 when a gas pipeline running through the southern Iraqi province of al-Muthana blew up.
The Iraqi News Agency (INA) revealed that among those wounded as a result of the explosion were several fighters of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), which maintain a base near the pipeline.
According to the state-run agency, al-Muthana Governor, Ahmad Manfi, formed a committee to investigate the pipeline explosion. Specialists from the capita, Baghdad, have reportedly arrived at the explosion site.
“The director of the provincial police and the assistant gas affairs at the Ministry of Oil and those concerned with the forensic evidence are currently at the site of the explosion,” Manfi told the INA, “the causes of this explosion will be announced in a few hours.”
Al-Muthana governor revealed that the pipeline, which blew up, is a part of a state of the art project that was recently completed.
There is no evidence indicating that the pipeline explosion was the result of a sabotage attack. However, the presence of a PMU base nearby makes such a scenario possible. Several covert attacks targeted the pro-Iranian Shiite coalition in the past two years.
