Huge blast sent flames shooting into the sky when saboteurs bombed an Egyptian natural gas pipeline on the Sinai Peninsula on Monday, an AFP report said.

According to the officials a car was parked close to the pipeline in the Bir al Abd area, 50 miles (80km) from the north Sinai town of El Arish,just some time before the explosion. They said the bomb was activated remotely.

Witnesses say, the flames reached as high as 32 feet (10 meters) in the air. Emergency services were rushed to the area. No causalities were reported in the attack.

This was the third attack since February, when an uprising toppled former president Hosni Mubarak and consequently saw power being transferred to military council.

The pipeline carries gas from Egypt to Israel and Jordan. After the explosion, the pipeline was closed, a source told Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The gas supply has already been disrupted by the previous explosions which took place on Feb. 5 and April 27 this year. There was also a failed attack on the pipeline in March.

About 40 percent of Israel's natural gas that is used to produce electricity is supplied by Egypt.

The report said, four Israeli firms signed 20-year contracts worth up to $10 billion to import Egyptian gas in December.

It was just last week that the government was seeking the help of tribes in the north of the peninsula to improve the security of the pipeline, according to reports in the Egyptian news website Ahram.

Jordan, which buys 95 percent of its energy needs, imports about 240 million cubic feet (6.8 million cubic metres) of Egyptian gas a day, or 80 percent of its electricity requirements.

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