Terrorists blow up natural gas pipeline near El-Arish in Sinai, but not the one to Israel

A group of masked men detonated an explosive charge at the Israel-Egypt gas pipeline in the northern Sinai port city of El-Arish, Egypt early on Saturday morning.
Residents say they heard the sound of an explosion, and that massive flames shot into the air. State TV quoted an official as saying that the "situation is very dangerous and explosions were continuing from one spot to another" along the pipeline.

Israel Radio reported, however, that the attack did not hit the pipeline that supplying gas to Israel. It quoted sources in the Israeli consortium overseeing gas imports as saying the morning blast was "nowhere near" the pipe running to Israel but rather near the pipeline leading to Syria and Jordan.

Israel gets 40 percent of its natural gas at subsidized rates from Egypt, a deal built on their landmark 1979 peace accord.

Egyptian state television referred to the incident as a "terrorist" attack. All pipeline activity has since been turned off temporarily by Egyptian authorities, including the undamaged line to Israel. The pipeline serves 30-40% of Israel's gas needs and also is a major conduit of gas to Jordan.

Hamas has been active in northern Sinai, aided by Bedouin gangs. Israel recently permitted Egypt, for the first time since the 1979 Camp David Accords, to deploy armed forces -- two battalions amounting to about 800 men -- to prevent the kind of attack that occurred today.

Flames raged at the scene for three hours before they were successfully put out, Al-Jazeera reported. No injuries were reported in the attack.

Government officials in Jerusalem were monitoring the situation and trying to assess the damage, Israel Radio reported. Egyptian security sources blamed "foreign elements" for the attack, Reuters reported.

It was not the first time that the gas pipeline has come under attack. Beduin tribesmen attempted to blow up the pipeline last July as tensions intensified between them and the Egyptian government, which they accuse of discrimination and of ignoring their plight.

But Islamic elements, including those recently broken out of prison, have been making their away across northern Sinai to Gaza, and Hamas terrorists have also been reported moving west into Sinai.