Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Egypt’s natural gas pipeline to the rest of the Middle East
has again been bombed.

Officials said the bombing of the Arab Gas Pipeline took place in
Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on late March 5.

Officials said gas supplies to neighboring Israel and Jordan were severed after the attack in northern Sinai near the provincial capital of El Arish.

This marked the 13th attack on the pipeline within a year and believed conducted by Bedouin squads linked to Al Qaida and Hamas.

Egyptian government efforts to bolster security, including hiring Bedouin contractors, have failed.

Both Jordan and Israel have sought alternatives to Egyptian gas, which could triple in price in 2012.

Jordan has been discussing gas supplies from Qatar, while Israel was developing gas tracts in the eastern Mediterranean.

  13th attack, 13th bombing of Egyptian pipeline cuts off Israel, Al Qaida, Arab Gas Pipeline, Bedouin squads, El Arish, Jordan, Sinai Peninsula