Explosion on Syrian oil pipeline near restive city

BEIRUT - The Associated Press

REUTERS photo

Syrian activists say there has been an explosion on an oil pipeline near the restive central city of Homs.
No casualties were immediately reported.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the pipeline was "bombed." The state-run news agency says it was an attack and blamed "an armed terrorist group."

The reports could not be independently confirmed.

Syria is trying to crush a 9-month-old uprising, but the conflict is turning more violent as once-peaceful protesters take up arms.

European Union aimed at squeezing the ailing Syrian economy and forcing the regime to halt the bloodshed.

The EU has banned oil imports from Syria in a move that costs the embattled regime millions of dollars each day.