Egypt: Islamic State (ISIS) attacks natural gas pipeline in northern Sinai

Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists blew up a section of a natural gas pipeline in Egypt’s northern Sinai on Saturday, the Associated Press reported.

The blast caused a fire but no casualties, Egyptian security officials said.

The attack caused a fire but no casualties, the report said, citing Egyptian security officials. The charges were placed under the pipeline in the town of Bir al-Abd, the officials said.

On April 27, the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center reported a spike in ISIS activity in the two weeks prior. It attributed the rise to the organization’s declaration of a revenge campaign for the deaths of Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi and the group’s former spokesman, who were killed in February in an U.S. raid in Idlib, Syria.

According to the report, this activity included multiple attacks in the northern Sinai, including an April 25 attack on an Egyptian army patrol south of the town of Sheikh Zuweid in which two soldiers were killed and a third injured. An exchange of fire took place on the same day between ISIS terrorists and fighters from a Sinai Bedouin tribal union that supports the Egyptian army.

In a report released on April 7, the Meir Amit Center noted that Egypt had announced a six-month extension of a presidential decree announcing a special security situation in the Sinai Peninsula.

According to another report, Egyptian security officials say suspected Islamic State militants blew up a natural gas pipeline Saturday in Egypt’s restive northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, causing a fire but no casualties

Suspected Islamic State militants blew up a natural gas pipeline Saturday in Egypt’s restive northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, causing a fire but no casualties, security officials said.

The officials said the suspected militants planted explosives under a pipeline in the town of Bir al-Abd.

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The expulsion sent thick flames of fire shooting into the sky, and authorities stopped the flow of gas to extinguish the fire, according to eyewitnesses.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to media and the eyewitnesses asked not to be named for fear of reprisal.

No group immediately claimed the attack which caused no human casualties.

The Islamic State group affiliate, which is centered in Northern Sinai, however, has claimed previous attacks targeted gas pipelines between Egypt and both Jordan and Israel.

Egypt is battling an Islamic State-led insurgency in the Sinai that intensified after the military overthrew an elected but divisive Islamist president in 2013. The militants have carried out scores of attacks, mainly targeting security forces and Christians.

Saturday’s attack comes as the militants suffered heavy losses in recent months with Egyptian security forces, aided by armed tribesmen, who intensified their efforts to eliminate the group.