Environmental crisis after pipeline sabotage

KIRKUK - Iraq is facing a major environmental crisis following the most recent bombing of the northern export pipeline, as massive oil slicks float down the Tigris River.

Water supply stations have been shut down throughout Salahaddin province, in Baiji, Tikrit and Samarra. Authorities are now diverting water from the Tigris via the Samarra Dam and sending it to Lake Tharthar, potentially poisoning Iraq's largest lake but saving Baghdad from contamination.