A remote-control roadside bomb ripped through a military vehicle today (19 October) near Agri, an eastern province of Turkey, according to reports in the Turkish press.
Agri Governor Mehmet Tekinarslan described it as a terrorist attack targeted at the gas pipeline. The governor said that 28 soldiers were wounded, one seriously.
The incident is the latest in a series of explosions that hit gas pipelines in Turkey this month. On 8 October, Turkish authorities blamed the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) separatist group for a blast on a pipeline in Turkey's southeast that halted the Iranian gas flow to the region.
That happened four days after an unexplained explosion on another pipeline halted the flow of Azerbaijani natural gas to Turkey via the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline.
Gazpom announced in a press release that following the explosion near Agri, natural gas deliveries from Iran to Turkey have been completely halted.
“Consequently, Turkish company BOTAŞ requested to increase daily shipment of Russian natural gas along the Blue Stream route up to 48 million cubic metres. Gazprom Export upped the deliveries in accordance with this application. Previous daily supplies totalled 32 mcm,” Gazprom stated.
It remains unknown how long the repair works will last, the statement said.
