SABOTAGE

Not helpful.

BAGHDAD, Aug. 17 — A major water pipeline in northern Baghdad was breached on Sunday, flooding nearby streets, and residents said they heard a blast early in the morning and saw a car speeding from the scene.

Officials said it would take at least eight hours to repair the pipeline and that the water supply to areas of northern Baghdad had been cut off.

Local residents said they had been woken by a loud blast, and that the pipeline appeared to have been attacked by explosives.

The efforts of the U.S.-led administration to rebuild the country's decrepit oil industry and restore basic services have been dogged by sabotage.

The newly reopened oil export pipeline from northern Iraq to Turkey has been shut down after a fire that officials blamed on a bomb attack.

Thamir Ghadban, Iraq's U.S.-appointed de facto oil minister, said on Saturday it would be several days before the oil pipeline to Turkey would be operational again.