Egypt Militants Bomb Gas Line to Jordan

Militants in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula bombed a gas pipeline to Jordan on Sunday, witnesses said, amid a surge in attacks on police and soldiers since Islamist president Mohamed Morsi’s removal from office.

Witnesses told AFP the blast took place near the North Sinai provincial capital of El-Arish, scene of major disturbances since Morsi’s overthrow by the military on Wednesday.

On Friday, armed Morsi supporters stormed the provincial headquarters, raising the black banner of Al-Qaeda-inspired militants, an AFP correspondent reported.

A Jordanian government official confirmed that gas supplies to the energy-poor kingdom were cut.

Egyptian gas covers 80 percent of electricity generation in Jordan, which imports 95 percent of its energy needs.

Since veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak’s overthrow in a popular uprising in early 2011, militants in the Sinai have repeatedly sabotaged the gas pipeline, which also supplies Israel.

But Sunday’s bombing was the first reported in almost a year.