More on the Mexican pipeline bombing

Miami Herald:

Saboteurs who blew up natural gas pipelines that shut down one of Mexico's main industrial regions earlier this month also crippled an important crude oil pipeline in an operation that indicated extensive knowledge of Mexico's energy infrastructure, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

Not only were oil and natural gas pipelines targeted, but the bombers also knew enough about energy installations to destroy the shutoff valves along several pipelines that allow for the wide national distribution of oil and natural gas.

''These are massive steel valves -- they're gigantic,'' a U.S. official familiar with the bombing investigation told McClatchy Newspapers. ``These are major, very expensive shutoff valves that control the flow of all this petroleum. This wasn't a round tube in the middle of nowhere.''

And the bombers knew which side of the valve they should strike, ensuring that crude oil didn't flow to a nearby refinery and that natural gas didn't flow to foreign and Mexican manufacturers in the central Bajio region, said the official, who agreed to talk only on condition of anonymity because of the extreme sensitivity of the probe in Mexico.

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Mexican government officials initially said the plastic explosives used in the bombings appeared to be of European origin. Now it's believed that the explosives were of a type commonly used in Mexican mining and construction.

The bombs detonated in the state of Querétaro on July 10 were placed under two of three pipelines that ran parallel and connected several important Mexican states that are home to subsidiaries of many U.S. manufacturers. The bombs blew open a natural gas pipeline with a diameter of 36 inches and a pipeline carrying liquefied gas.

The intensity of the subsequent fire, which burned for 36 hours, caused the 16-inch crude oil pipeline in the middle to rupture and knocked out crude oil supplies in the region for several days.

The evidence is suggesting that the logistics of the operation were internal to Mexico. That does not preclude collusion with outside forces or financing from outside sources. There is also the fact that Mexican operations against drug dealers is using a significant number of Army units and providing security to pipeline infrastructure will detract from that effort.