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Egypt: In the Egyptian Sinai, sabotage of a pipeline supplying Israel and Jordan

The pipeline supplying Egyptian gas to Israel and Jordan was hit by an explosion following an attack by gunmen on the night of Monday to Tuesday which was a casualty, it was learned from the services Egyptian security and controls.

The attack took place near the Egyptian town of al-Arish in northern Sinai Peninsula.

One person was injured in the attack, witnesses said, was conducted by three men in a van, which opened fire on gas installations.

This is the sixth attack since February against the pipeline, with deliveries to Israel and Jordan have repeatedly been suspended because of the damage.

Several attempted attacks were also thwarted.On 16 August four armed men were arrested as they prepared to detonate a gas terminal near al-Arish.

Egypt last month had strengthened its police and military in the Sinai to better secure the pipeline.

The new Egyptian authorities decided to review all agreements and gas to investigate on contracts controversial gas sales to Israel, signed before the fall of President Hosni Mubarak on February 11.

Egypt provides 43% of natural gas consumed in Israel, where 40% of electricity is produced from this energy source.

Egyptian gas also covers 80% of Jordan's needs for the production of electricity, 6.8 million cubic meters of gas daily imported.

The new explosion occurs in a difficult climate between Egypt and Israel, marked by the attack by demonstrators in the Israeli embassy in Cairo on September 9.

August 18, eight Israelis were killed in an attack near Eilat, southern Israel, near the Egyptian border.Taking the attackers chased, Israeli forces killed six Egyptian policemen in the crossfire, causing a diplomatic crisis with Cairo, which requires an apology.

Egypt is the first Arab country to have concluded a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

The new government in Cairo said he had no intention of repudiating the agreement, while distancing himself from the Jewish state. Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said on September 15 last September that the agreement was "not something sacred and could undergo changes."