UPDATE 3-Second Canadian pipeline damaged in explosion

(Updates with EnCana statement)

By Allan Dowd

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct 16 (Reuters) - A bomb has damaged a natural gas pipeline in northeastern British Columbia, police said on Thursday, describing the attack as the second of its kind in the same area in a week.

Energy producer EnCana Corp (ECA.TO) later said it had stopped a small leak at a "field facility" about 50 km southeast of the town of Dawson Creek, and that the incident was being investigated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

The RCMP said in a statement it was an explosion that "appears to be a deliberate act that left a crater in the ground under the pipeline that carries sour gas."

EnCana, Canada's biggest independent oil and gas producer, has increased security at its operations in the region.

Police said the incident involved a pipeline that was in the same area as a bombing of an EnCana-owned pipeline on Saturday.

"This is the second incident this week in the same area and it appears the two events are related," police said in a statement.

Both were in a remote area far from the Alberta border.

EnCana spokesman Alan Boras told reporters that company workers noticed the leak at the intersection of two pipelines on Thursday morning and the line was immediately shut down.

"Because of the events the past weekend the RCMP were notified," Boras said. "It was stopped almost immediately ... The facility was shut in. There was no danger to the public."

Police initially said the explosion happened late Wednesday or early Thursday, but later said it was not clear when the blast happened.

Police were already investigating if the weekend explosion was linked to a letter sent to media in the Dawson Creek area last week that warned the energy industry to leave northern British Columbia. The letter did not make specific threats.

While it is already known for big conventional natural gas fields, remote northeastern British Columbia has become Canada's hottest region for new exploration as companies look to exploit massive reserves found trapped in the region's shale deposits and other unconventional fields.

The RCMP's anti-terrorism unit has joined the investigation, but police believe the incident is local in nature.

A newspaper in Dawson Creek said the letter complained of "crazy expansion of deadly gas wells in our homelands" and that "we will no longer negotiate with terrorists".