Bahrain has accused Iranian terrorists of blowing up a strategic oil pipeline and causing a massive inferno near a hospital and market, like reported by 9news.com.au.
The Bahraini foreign minister, Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed, said the huge explosion that detonated in Buri, just outside the capital city of Manama, was an intentional act of terrorism and sabotage.
“The attempt to bomb the Saudi-Bahraini oil pipeline is a dangerous Iranian escalation that aims to scare citizens and hurt the global oil industry,” Sheikh Khalid posted on Twitter on Sunday.
There were no casualties from the explosion, but footage of the fire posted to social media showed an intense column of thick yellow flames rising high into the night sky.
The explosion damaged cars and nearby buildings, forcing firefighters to evacuate the neighbourhood.
Fire crews later successfully extinguished the blaze on the pipeline, which belongs to the state-run Bahrain Petroleum Co.
Bahrain shares the affected Abu Safa oil field with neighbour Saudi Arabia, with around 230,000 barrels pumped through the pipeline every day, according to UAE newspaper The National.
The explosion forced the key pipeline to be closed temporarily, prompting concerns over the potential impact of gasoline production in Bahrain.
On Monday (AEDT) the pipeline was again operational.
Bahrain has been combatting a low-level insurgency since the Sunni monarchy quashed a 2011 Arab Spring uprising led by majority Shiites.
Bahrain’s interior minister, Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, said Saturday’s blast was “the latest example of a terrorist act performed by terrorists in direct contact with and under instruction from Iran.”
Gulf tensions have intensified in recent days after Sunni-led Saudi Arabia blamed Shiite Iran for a ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Shiite rebels that was intercepted near Riyadh.
