The scene of a terror attack in Sinai. Photo: Screenshot.

Terrorists on Tuesday bombed a gas pipeline in the Sinai that connects Egypt’s supply to Jordan, the second such attack in the two weeks since the ouster of former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s Al-Ahram daily reported, citing unnamed Egyptian security sources.

Al-Ahram said eyewitnesses saw gigantic flames coming from just east of El-Arish, and the explosion could be seen for 20 miles.

The security source told the newspaper that “there were no casualties, but there were significant economic losses incurred by the Egyptian economy.”

The source said that at dawn, an armed group wearing masks blew up the gas pipeline from a distance by detonating an explosive device, and then fled into the desert. Military personnel on the ground and in an Apache helicopter chased the attackers, but could not detain them.

Over the weekend, Egyptian security and armed forces arrested nine alleged terrorists in the Sinai desert operating under the command of al-Qaeda leader Ramzy Mowafy. Mowafy was among 234 prisoners, including former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, who escaped from the Wadi al-Natrun Prison during the country’s January 2011 revolution.

The nine terrorists confessed to a plan to unite all of the region’s armed movements under the banner of the al-Egypt Free Army, founded by Mowafy to declare Sinai an Islamic emirate that would secede from Egypt.