For the second time in two days, militants in the restive Sinai Peninsula have bombed a natural gas pipeline south of the city of Al-Arish. The pipeline was bombed Wednesday morning by unidentified assailants armed with guns, according to the news website Asway Masirya, a subsidiary of Reuters. The bombing marks the fifth time the Sinai pipeline has been attacked since the 3 July ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi, and the 19th such attack since Hosni Mubarak was deposed in February 2011. Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, an Al-Qaeda-inspired militant group operating in the lawless Sinai, claimed responsibility for the last pipeline attack, which took place on 27 January, but the group has not released a statement claiming responsibility for the bombings on Tuesday or Wednesday. Militant attacks in Sinai have grown more common since Morsi's ouster. At least two militant groups, Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis and Agnad Misr, have claimed attacks in Sinai and Cairo. On 7 February, Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis claimed responsibility for the assassination of General Mohamed Al-Saied, head of the Minister of Interior's technical office. The militant group also claimed responsibility for the 25 January downing of a military helicopter in Sinai, and a massive car bomb that struck a Cairo security headquarters on 24 January.
