UN agency: Submarine data pipeline cuts may be sabotage

Sabotage is now being discussed as one possible explanation for the numerous cuts which took place two weeks ago on undersea data pipelines serving much of the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), an agency of the UN, says that sabotage cannot be ruled out as a possible cause yet, and that investigations are continuing. Many have remarked that the total of five cuts made to different cables simultaneously in different locations seems unlikely to be a simple coincidence.

At a Qatari conference on cyber-crime, ITU head of development Sami Al-Murshed said that since the cables lie at such great depths under the sea, and are not passed over by ships, many of their experts doubt the prevailing -- and some may say placatory -- view that the cables were accidentally cut.

Two of the cables have reportedly been fixed, and the status of the others remains unclear. If this was an act of international sabotage or terrorism, no group has yet come forth to take credit or elucidate their motives.