US-LED ASSAULT ON IRAQ INSURGENCY KILLS DOZENS, OIL PIPELINE SHUT.

(From ONASA News Agency)

SAMARRA, Iraq, Aug 14 (ONASA - AFP) - US forces claimed to have killed 50 Sunni Muslim insurgents in air raids on the northern Iraqi city of Samarra Saturday, and more died in clashes involving Shiite militia south of the capital, despite a truce with Shiite cleric Moqtada holding out in the city of Najaf. Meanwhile world oil prices were set to spike again as the Southern Oil Company announced it had shut a main pipeline for security reasons following threats by Sadr's supporters to hit key oil infrastructure if US-led forces did not quit Najaf. US warplanes dropped 500-pound (250 kilogram) bombs on "known enemy locations" around Samarra …