Syria's government said Monday that divers had planted explosives on offshore pipelines of Banias refinery but the damage had not halted operations, in the second such attempted sabotage since June. "Terrorists and their supporters" were behind the attack on mooring points for tankers off Banias on the Mediterranean, the oil ministry said, without giving details on their identity. The frogmen had planted "explosive devices" to damage infrastructure for ships offloading cargo via underwater pipelines, it said. "Technicians immediately began assessing the damage... to start repairs and put in place alternative plans to ensure the terminal continued work on crude and other derivatives," the ministry said. Oil Minister Ali Ghanem told state television that the mooring points were three kilometres (two miles) out to sea and stretched 23 metres (76 feet) underwater. In June, Damascus said an unnamed foreign party had attacked and damaged six underwater pipelines connecting oil tankers to the Banias terminal. Syria's almost nine-year war has seen the Damascus government lose control of key oil fields, forcing it to resort to importing hydrocarbons. Western sanctions on Syrian oil shipments as well as US punitive measures against government ally Iran have complicated such imports. bur/ah/hc