CAIRO, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- A natural gas pipeline explosion in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt has disrupted exports to upstream consumers in Israel and Jordan, Egyptian officials said.
The official Egypt State Information Service said an explosion "has again" struck a pipeline in Sinai Peninsula near the town of el-Arish. The ESIS reported that the explosion destroyed part of the pipeline, halting exports to Israel and Jordan.
There were no injuries reported from the early Thursday blast, the seventh since the country's revolution forced Hosni Mubarak to resign after nearly 30 years in power.
Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian said, in an audio message that surfaced in August, that he commended the "heroes" who blew up the pipeline earlier this summer.
Analysts had said the frequency of attacks on the pipeline in Sinai is a challenge to the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the military regime that took control after Mubarak was ousted.
Israel gets about 20 percent of its electricity needs from natural gas supplied through Egypt. Jordan imports most of the energy it needs.
