Bomb Damages Colombia's Cano Limon Crude Pipeline

BOGOTA (Reuters) - A bomb has damaged a section of Colombia's Cano Limon pipeline, state-run oil company Ecopetrol said, the twenty-sixth attack on the pipeline this year.

The attack, which took in Las Bancas in eastern Arauquita municipality, did not contaminate any water sources, the company said in a statement Saturday. It did cause a small spill which was contained in the crater left by the explosion.

The statement did not specify when the attack took place or whether the 485-mile (780-km) pipeline was pumping at the time.

The Cano Limon was kept offline for most of 2018 because of more than 80 bombings.

Though Ecopetrol did not name those responsible for the bombing, the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group, considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, regularly attacks oil infrastructure.

The bombing follows a recent incident in which intruders deliberately set fire to crude oil retention pools Ecopetrol was using for storage while pipeline damage from an earlier bombing as repaired.

After that attack, Ecopetrol released a statement that said “deliberate action puts communities and water bodies in the area at risk, and generates toxic gas pollution,” adding that the intruders locked facility gates after setting the fire to impede emergency response efforts by firefighters and technical personnel.

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