JERUSALEM (JTA) — Terrorists blew up a section of the pipeline that carries gas from Egypt to Israel and Jordan.
Monday morning’s attack marked the third time that the pipeline has been sabotaged in the last six months.
Armed men forced guards to leave a pumping station in the northern Sinai and then laid explosive charges, which they detonated remotely.
Egypt supplies Israel with more than 40 percent of its natural gas needs to produce electricity.
The supply of gas from Egypt was shut off for a month and never returned to full levels after terrorists in the Sinai blew up a section of the pipeline in February during the uprisings against deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
In March, explosives failed to detonate in a second attempt by terrorists to bomb the pipeline. Another attack on April 27 blew up part of the pipeline in El-Arish, again halting the gas supply.
Selling gas to Israel has been unpopular on the Egyptian street since the opening of the pipeline in 2008. Mubarak has been accused of giving Israel a sweetheart deal on the gas, since Egypt lost more than $714 million on the agreement.
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