AhlulBayt News Agency

source : AFP
Tuesday

6 March 2012

2:22:00 PM
300924

Egypt's gas pipeline to Israel and Jordan bombed for 13th time

Unknown assailants carried out the 13th attack since Mubarak's ouster on the Egyptian gas pipeline to Israel and Jordan

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The Egyptian pipeline carrying gas to Israel and Jordan was bombed Monday for the 13th time since the overthrow of former president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

 The attack was pulled out in the Massaeed area west of the Mediterranean coastal town of Al-Arish, North Sinai. Previous bombings took place in the same area.

 No group has claimed responsibility for the pipeline attacks thus far but one group of anonymous culprits are widely believed to be responsible for all the attacks.

 Shortly after Monday's bombing, Abdel Wehab Mabrouk, governor of North Sinai, along with the peninsula security head, Gaber El-Arabi, and other high-profile governmental officials went to the crime scene.  

 They stressed that a lot of efforts have been exerted by the government of late to put an end to the gas cylinders shortage in Egypt.

 Egypt's 20-year gas deal with Israel, signed in the Mubarak era, is unpopular with many Egyptians, with critics accusing Israel of not paying enough for the fuel.

 And many Egyptians deplore the fact that Egypt supplies Israel with gas amid the gas cylinders shortage all across the country.

 Another reason why the pipeline was repeatedly attacked is that security in Sinai was relaxed after Mubarak's fall as the police presence thinned out across Egypt.

 Previous explosions sometimes have forced weeks-long shutdowns along the pipeline run by Gasco, a subsidiary of the national gas company EGAS.

 Gasco said it had resumed pumping gas to households and industrial factories in Al-Arish and began experimental pumping to Jordan and Israel last week.

 The pipeline has been shut since the last explosion on 5 February.

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