In this Sept. 7, 2014 photo, new pipelines to carry gas from Texas to Mexico, eventually reaching the city of Guanajuato, are laid underground near General Bravo, in Nuevo Leon state, Mexico. In Mexico's Puebla state, gunmen using local residents as a human shield opened fire on a Mexican army patrol investigating fuel pipeline thefts, killing two soldiers and wounding a third, the military said Thursday, May 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says fuel thieves have again damaged a critical pipeline that supplies the capital with fuel piped in from the Gulf coast.
Lopez Obrador says that the thieves' intent was to hit back at his government's campaign against theft of fuel.
One day earlier, Lopez Obrador announced that there had not been any new illegal taps in that pipeline since Friday. But on Tuesday he said the state petroleum company Pemex has had to repair the pipeline again.
The military plans to increase its presence along the length of that pipeline to about 850 and Lopez Obrador plans to travel the length of it next week to speak with local communities.
The fuel supply had been starting to normalize after days of shortages.