Local leader threatens key Kurdistan gas pipeline

SULAIMANIYA - A local leader in the rural Chemchemal area is threatening to destroy part of a gas pipeline - the first time that growing civil unrest in Kurdistan has posed a direct danger to energy infrastructure.

Abdullah Kwekha Mubarak, a member of the national council of the Gorran political party, said he has excavated a section of pipeline in the Shwan area, 5 kilometers north of Chemchemal town, which carries gas from the Khor Mor field to two of Kurdistan's major power plants. Mubarak posted a photograph of the partially exposed section of pipeline on his Facebook page, which he said "is located on my personal lands."