Security reinforcements in North Sinai following gas pipeline attack
This is the 27th attack on the gas pipeline in Sinai since 2011
Ahram Online , Tuesday 23 Dec 2014
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/118640/Egypt/Politics-/Security-reinforcements-in-North-Sinai-following-g.aspx

Egypt's security forces have increased their security presence in North
Sinai's Al-Arish following an attack on Tuesday against a pipeline that
carries gas to Jordan, the 27th such attack since 2011.

Security forces have closed the entrances and exits of Al-Arish in search of
the assailants, state news agency MENA reported.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, however, Egypt's most
violent militant group, Sinai-based Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis (ABM), have
repeatedly claimed previous attacks on the gas pipeline.

In November, ABM announced their allegiance to Islamic State (IS), a
militant group that has seized large parts of Iraq and Syria.

In a video released by ABM in November, the group showed a scene blasting
the pipeline, while a note scrolls across the bottom, announcing that Jordan
had joined the war against IS.

"God willing, not a drop of gas will reach Jordan until the caliph [of IS]
permits it," another caption read.

Targeting the pipeline has repeatedly forced a halt to gas exports to Jordan
and Israel, the latter of which Egypt used to supply until April 2013.

Egypt’s army has been facing a decade-long jihadist militant insurgency in
the Sinai Peninsula, with militant attacks increasing over the past year and
expanding into Cairo and the Nile Delta, killing hundreds of army and police
personnel.

The military has also announced killing and arresting hundreds of militants.

The deadliest attack to date was on 24 October, when militants killed 31
army personnel and injured at least 30 others in a single car bomb attack in
North Sinai.

An overnight curfew has been imposed after the attack, as well as a buffer
zone, one kilometre wide and 14 kilometres long, near the border areas of
Rafah and Sheikh Zuweyid. Houses in these areas have been evacuated and
their inhabitants compensated.