The official said a strong explosion rocked a village in central Sinai called el-Riysan on Friday after militants planted explosives beneath the gas pipeline “connected to cement factories” in the area.

The official, who He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief journalists, further noted that there were no casualties as the result of the blast.

Gas pipelines in the area have come under attack several times over the past three years since the 2011 Egyptian revolution that led to the downfall of its longtime US-backed dictator Hosni Mubarak.

A number of such attacks were reported to be efforts to cut off Egypt's export of natural gas to the Israeli regime at under-market prices.

Bombings have also surged and spilled into to the capital and Nile Delta cities following the ouster of Egypt’s only democratically-elected President Mohamed Morsi by the country’s military on 3 July.

An al-Qaeda-linked group called Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has claimed responsibility for most of the prior attacks in the area.

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