The April 16 bombing of pipelines near the Tigris has sent oil spilling into the river and endangered the water supply for millions of Iraqis, with water stations still closed in both Tikrit and Beiji.
On April 16th, a bomb exploded under an oil pipeline near the northern city of Beiji causing huge quantities of crude oil to spill into the Tigris River, a police official told AP. The U.S. military said in a statement that the part of the pipeline that was hit was some 7 feet underground and covered with a slab of concrete.
The oil slick was subsequently set ablaze by emergency crews from the North Oil Company, blackening the skies over Tikrit. Oily water was then diverted at the Samara Barrage further south and directed into Tharthar Lake to avoid the slick from affecting water treatment facilities further south on the Tigris.
An Iraqi police official, speaking on condition of anonymity said the bomb went off before dawn, delaying the firefighters’ arrival at the scene to extinguish the blaze. Because of the danger across the country, Iraqis avoid going outside before daylight.
Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, is the home to Iraq’s largest oil refinery.
“This act of terrorism is barbaric and demented. This demonstrates al-Qaida does not care about the Iraqi people or the environment,” U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly told The Associated Press.
Donnelly said workers from Iraq’s Northern Oil Company were trying to prevent the spill from endangering the river, crops and livestock dependent on river water.
It was not clear if irrigation officials would allow the spill to reach Baghdad or would block it at Samarra dam, which diverts water into Tharthar lake north of the Iraqi capital.
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