SANAA: Armed tribesmen blew up Yemen's main oil pipeline Wednesday, halting the flow to the export terminal on the Red Sea coast, tribal sources and an industry official said.
The 435-kilometer pipeline, which links the Safir oil fields, in Marib province, east of the capital, to the Ras Isa terminal, near the port of Hodeida, has been a repeated target of sabotage.
The latest attack hit a section of pipeline in the Sarwah district of Marib, tribal sources told AFP.
It brought the flow to a "complete halt," an industry official said.
The motive for the latest sabotage was not immediately clear.
But Yemen's heavily armed tribes frequently target oil and other infrastructure in a bid to extract concessions from the central government.
Yemen is a minor producer but relies on oil and gas exports for 90 percent of its foreign currency earnings.
Attacks on infrastructure cost the impoverished country $4.75 billion over the two years from March 2011 to March 2013, according to government figures.
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