ISTANBUL, October 19 � The gas flow on a pipeline carrying Iranian natural gas to Turkey was halted due to an explosion in eastern Turkey late on Thursday which also wounded soldiers in a passing military vehicle, Turkish government and energy officials said.
The blast happened in the area of Eleskirt, a town in Agri province. It was not clear what caused the blast, and when the gas flow will resume.
The outlawed�Kurdistan Workers party�(PKK) militant group has claimed responsibility for repeated attacks on pipelines in Turkey in its 28-year-old armed campaign against the Turkish state which has claimed more than 40,000 lives.
�The explosion occurred on a natural gas pipeline in Eleskirt as a military vehicle was passing, wounding 28 soldiers,� Agri Governor Mehmet Tekinarslan was reported as saying by state-run Anatolian news agency.
The gas flow from Iran was halted earlier this month after an explosion in eastern Turkey and resumed a week later.
Flows have also been halted several times on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline carrying crude oil from Iraq to Turkey in recent months due to suspected sabotage blamed on the PKK, deemed a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and the EU.
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