Unidentified militants blew up a natural gas pipeline in Egypt's northwestern Sinai Peninsula late Tuesday for the 21st attack of its kind since 2011, a security source said Wednesday.
The source, requesting anonymity, told Anadolu Agency that unknown assailants had detonated explosives near the pipeline in Lahafn, south of Arish town, which carries gas to two factories in central Sinai, adding that thick tongues of fire could be seen above the station from far.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Tuesday's blast was the 21st to target the Sinai pipelines – which had previously been used to export natural gas to Israel – since the ouster of long-serving president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Egypt had signed a 15-year natural gas export deal with the Jordanian government in 2004, whereby Egypt promised to deliver 250 cubic feet of natural gas per day to the Hashemite kingdom.
The Egyptian army is already mounting a wide-ranging military operation, launched last September, in Sinai with the stated objective of countering an unprecedented rise in militant attacks on security personnel in the restive border region.
The attacks, which increased markedly following the army's ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi in July, have left dozens of police and military personnel dead.
By Mohamed Salama
englishnews@aa.com.tr
