An explosion has destroyed an Egyptian gas pipeline in the Sinai that supplies Israel and Jordan, security sources and witnesses say.

At least three gunmen in a van opened fire on a gas installation before an explosion hit the pipeline near the town of al-Arish in the north of the Sinai peninsula, witnesses said on Tuesday.

A local hospital said one man was admitted with burns from the blast, which also set olive groves and shacks in the area on fire. Fire brigades were bringing the flames under control after the company operating the pipeline cut off the gas supply.

Since Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian president, was ousted in February, the pipeline has been repeatedly blown up by people believed to be opposed to selling Egyptian gas to Israel.

The last attack took place in July, when men armed with machine guns forced guards at a station to abandon their posts, and then blew it up.

The extent of the damage caused by Tuesday's blast and the effect on gas supplies to Israel and Jordan was not immediately clear.

Egypt has been trying to charge Israel and Jordan more for its gas after complaining that prices fixed during Mubarak's rule were below market rates.

The pipeline is run by Gasco, Egypt's gas transport company which is a subsidiary of the national gas company EGAS.

The Egyptian armed forces launched a security operation in Sinai in August to root out hundreds of suspected militants believed to be behind some of the attacks on the pipeline and police compounds in the peninsula.

PHOTO CAPTION
The gas pipeline supplies both Israel and Jordan with natural gas from Egypt

Al Jazeera