Saboteurs Bomb Egypt Gas Pipeline to Israel, Jordan

CAIRO, Egypt – Saboteurs bombed an Egyptian natural gas pipeline on the Sinai Peninsula Monday, with the blast sending flames shooting into the sky, a security official told AFP.

Officials said a car was parked near the pipeline in the Bir al Abd area, 50 miles (80km) from the north Sinai town of El Arish, shortly before the explosion. They said the bomb was activated remotely.

Emergency services were deployed to the area to try to bring the fire under control, an official said.

According to witnesses, the flames reached as high as 32 feet (10 meters) in the air.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in the attack, which was the third since February, when an uprising toppled former president Hosni Mubarak and saw power handed over to a military council.

The pipeline carries gas from Egypt to Israel and Jordan, with the explosion occurring at a pumping station.

The natural gas company that runs the pipeline closed it down after the explosion, a source told Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Previous explosions on Feb. 5 and April 27 this year have disrupted the gas supply. There was also a failed attack on the pipeline in March.

Egypt supplies about 40 percent of Israel's natural gas which is used to produce electricity. In December, four Israeli firms signed 20-year contracts worth up to $10 billion to import Egyptian gas.

Egyptian English-language news website Ahram Online reported last week that the government was seeking the help of tribes in the north of the peninsula to improve the security of the pipeline.

Abdel Wahab Mabruk, Governor of North Sinai, said he was working with the Ministry of Petroleum to hire Bedouins to secure the line and the pumping stations connected to it.

Jordan, which buys 95 percent of its energy needs, imports about 240 million cubic feet (6.8 million cubic metres) of Egyptian gas a day, or 80 percent of its electricity requirements, AFP reported.