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Colombia's Transandino pipeline halted after bomb attack

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's southern Transandino pipeline was halted after a bomb attack by an illegal armed group spilled crude oil into a river, state-run oil company Ecopetrol said on Sunday.

The attack, which occurred on Saturday near the city of Tumaco in Narino province, has not affected exports or crude production at fields in the southern jungle zone along the border with Ecuador, Ecopetrol said.

The 306-kilometer (109-mile) Transandino has the capacity to transport 85,000 barrels of crude per day.

Ecopetrol did not say which group was responsible for the attack. The National Liberation Army (ELN) has frequently been behind attacks on oil pipelines.

The ELN had been negotiating a peace accord with the government in Ecuador, but that nation's President Lenin Moreno last week said he would no longer host the talks.

His decision came after the killing of three media workers kidnapped late in March by another insurgent group.

(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Helen Murphy; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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