Tribesmen blow up Yemen oil pipeline

Sana’a: Tribesmen blew up Yemen’s main oil export pipeline on Friday, officials and tribal sources said, in the latest attack on one of the country’s main sources of foreign currency.

The attackers struck east of the capital Sana’a, state news agency Saba said in a text message, without saying whether it stopped oil flows.

The pipeline carries crude from the Maarib fields in central Yemen to the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea.

Tribal sources said they carried out the attack to force the government to pay them compensation, without going into further details.

Tribesmen often carry out such attacks to pressure the government to free relatives from prison or in land disputes.

Yemen relies on crude exports to finance up to 70 per cent of its budget spending.

It has suffered frequent bombings since an anti-government uprising broke out in 2011.