A Yemeni army helicopter flies over the district of Arhab, some 40 kilometer northeast of the capital Sana’a (file photo).
Gunmen have downed a helicopter belonging to Yemen army in the countryâ„¢s central province of Maâ„¢rib, killing at least eight people.
The helicopter was protecting a group of engineers who were supposed to fix a damaged oil pipeline in Al-Arqain area of the city of Maâ„¢rib, police officials said.
Å“The chopper was flying low while it was attacked by heavy gunfire that caused it to crash into the ground,” an unnamed Interior Ministry official said.
Å“The commander of 107th Brigade, Hussein Mashbaa, as well as two pilots and five crew members were killed in the crash,” the official added.
According to security officials, the assailants were behind a bomb attack on the pipeline last week.
Also, on Sunday, Yemenâ„¢s Saba News agency, quoting an unnamed official, said that tribesmen have blown up the pipeline in Wadi Abida, in the province of Marib.
The flow of crude oil has been interrupted as a result of the explosion.
The bomb blast halted the flow of oil along the 320 kilometer pipeline linking the Safer oilfields to the export terminal in the province of Hodeida.
Over the past two years, insurgents and tribesmen have repeatedly attacked oil and gas pipelines in Yemen in a bid to win concessions from the central government, causing fuel shortages and slashing export earnings in the impoverished country.
Yemen produces some 300,000 barrels of oil, mostly to be exported, on a daily basis.
Last December, at least 17 people lost their lives after the Yemeni Army launched an offensive against tribesmen suspected of sabotaging the pipeline.
Official figures show lost production due to pipeline attacks in the east coast to be more than USD one billion in 2012, adding that oil exports fell by 4.5 percent due to the incidents.
MAM/PR
Republished from: Press TV