Six dead in Egypt oil pipeline fire

Cairo: Six people were killed and 15 injured when a leaking oil pipeline caught fire in Egypt's northern province of Bahira on Wednesday, officials said.

The head of Egypt's oil pipelines authority, Abdelmoneim Hafez, said the leak was the work of "thieves" syphoning off oil.

The fire broke out on the pipeline near Itay al-Baroud, a village half-way between Cairo and Alexandria, health ministry spokesman Khaled Mugahed said in a statement.

The wounded were taken to a nearby hospital, while the blaze was put out and the leak fixed.