Blast hit Egyptian pipeline

An explosion has destroyed an Egyptian gas pipeline in the Sinai that supplies Israel and Jordan, security sources and witnesses say.

The explosion happened about 20km west of the city of el-Arish on Tuesday. Witnesses said that flames as high as 30 metres could be seen rising from the pipeline.

The cause of the blast was not immediately known, nor was there any report on casualties. The army surrounded the area following the blast, and the company operating the pipeline closed it down after the explosion.

The pipeline has been repeatedly blown up by people believed to be against the sale of Egyptian gas to Israel since Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian president, was removed from power by a popular uprising in February.

The last attack took place in July, when men armed with machine guns forced guards at a station to abandon their posts, and then blew it up.

In August, the Egyptian authorities launched a joint military and police operation, dubbed Operation Eagle, to crackdown on lawlessness in the Northern Sinai and to arrest those responsible for previous attacks on the pipeline.

The pipeline is run by Gasco, Egypt's gas transport company, which is a subsidiary of EGAS, the national natural gas company.


aljazeera.net