Egypt holds gas supply to Israel and Jordan after pipeline explosion

They have begun to destroy the fuel infrastructure is probably the next step of the Suez Canal which is key to the distribution of oil worldwide

Saboteurs blew up a pipeline that runs through Egypt's Northern Sinai, state television reported on Saturday, disrupting flows to Israel and Jordan after Islamist groups called on militants to exploit the unrest that has rocked the government.

Egyptian state television quoted an official on Saturday as saying that the "situation is very dangerous and explosions were continuing from one spot to another" along the pipeline, adding that "it is a big terrorist operation."

A security source in North Sinai said "foreign elements" targeted the branch of the pipe that supplies Jordan.

The Egyptian army closed the main source of gas supplying the pipeline and were trying to control the fires. Television footage on Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya showed a tower of flames at the scene of the blast.

Following the explosion, Israel Radio said, quoting sources in the consortium overseeing imports, that the blast did not target supplies to Israel but they had been halted as a precaution.

"We are looking into all the details but it is too soon to say how long supplies [from Egypt] will be affected," a source in the Israeli National Infrastructure Ministry told Reuters.

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

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement assuring that Israel would not suffer from power cuts due to the halt of gas supply.

The attack happened as demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak entered their 12th day, with no sign of an end to the confrontation which has pitted the 82-year-old leader against thousands of anti-government protesters.

HAARETZ

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http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/egypt-holds-gas-supply-to-israel-and-jordan-after-pipeline-explosion-1.341368

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