Naharnet

Blast Hits Gas Pipeline in Egypt's Sinai

Attackers on Sunday blew up a gas pipeline in Egypt's Sinai used to export fuel to Israel and Jordan, the 15th such attack since 2011, the official MENA news agency reported.

Witnesses told Agence France Presse they heard a loud explosion and saw flames from the site of the explosion near the northern Sinai town of El-Arish.

Bedouin militants are believed to be behind the spate of pipeline attacks with have occurred since a popular uprising overthrew veteran president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

Egypt has been gripped by security problems since the revolt, and the Sinai Peninsula is particularly sensitive because of tensions with its heavily armed Bedouin community.

Cairo froze supplies to Israel earlier this year to negotiate a new price. Several Mubarak-era ministers and businessmen have been tried and imprisoned for selling the gas to Israel at below market rates.

Source: Agence France Presse


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