The explosion took place early Saturday in the city of Rumaythah, located roughly 215 kilometers south of Baghdad in the southern province of Muthanna.
"Two children have lost their lives as a result of the explosion," Iraqi Security Media Cell told state media outlet Iraqi News Agency.
Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) authorities say that five of their members were injured in the explosion, and one has lost their life, they told the outlet.
The cause of the explosion is yet to be announced, and the governor of Muthanna told state media that they are forming a team to investigate the cause of the explosion.
The domestic line was transporting gas from fields to provide electricity for some of Iraq’s southern cities, along with a key power station near Baghdad, Iraqi energy officials told Reuters.
The explosion will not negatively affect the Iraqi gas production, they added.
Iraq has long suffered from chronic outages and shortages of electricity in a country where summer temperatures reach 50 degrees Celsius. Rampant electricity shortages have in past years been a rallying call for protestors, most notably in the summer of 2018.
War, corruption, insecurity and lack of investment have all together contributed to a deteriorating grid, leaving Iraqis at times with as little as five hours of national electricity per day. Privately owned generators set up in neighborhoods try to supplement the lost hours, making Iraqis pay twice for electricity.
To make up for the shortage, Iraq has been importing electricity and natural gas to power its generation stations from neighboring Iran, much to the ire of Washington, which has imposed crippling economic sanctions on Tehran.
Washington has granted Baghdad several waivers to continue imports of Iranian energy without penalty, but ultimately expects it to gradually reduce its reliance on Iranian gas and electricity imports.
Iran exports 1200-1500 megawatts of electricity to Iraq on a daily basis, in addition to 38 million cubic meters of natural gas to feed several of Iraq’s power stations, according to Sayyid Hamid Hosseini, secretary general of Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce. In June, Baghdad and Tehran signed a two-year contract to continue the imports.
