Update: Israel is strengthening its presence on Sinai border

Israeli officials said Tuesday that Israel has reinforced its missile defenses near its southern border with Egypt to counter any attacks by Islamist militants, who are fighting security forces in Sinai.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said, “We hear news of attacks every day and we have strengthened our presence on the border.”

Unidentified gunmen attacked security outposts in Arish and Sheikh Zuwayed in Sinai, on Tuesday morning, fleeing when security forces exchanged fire with them. There are no reported injuries.

Meanwhile, identified gunmen blew up the natural gas pipeline to Jordan Tuesday morning, in the south of the city of Arish. This is the second time the pipeline has been attacked in the two weeks since former President Mohamed Morsi’s ouster.

An official security source told state news agency MENA that they were able to control the fire in the pipeline and said that although there were no casualties, “there are significant economic losses incurred by the Egyptian economy.”

The source added that a masked armed group blew up the gas pipeline from a distance after placing an explosive device and then fleeing into the desert at dawn, and that soldiers and Apache aircraft sought to chase the assailants but were unable to detain them.

Taher Abdel Rahim Chairman of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company, however, denied reports of the bombing of the pipeline, saying that the gas pump has been off since an attack on July 7.

He said, in a statement on Tuesday, that all necessary measures are currently being taken to repair and reopen the pipeline including inspections and prosecution investigations, in addition to an inspection of the site by the Misr Insurance Company.

A police sergeant with the security forces, 40 year-old Mohamed Kotb, was killed in the town of Arish in northern Sinai, when unidentified assailants traveling in a car without license plates fired shots at him in front of his residence.

At least 10 attacks were carried out by Islamist militants against police stations and security and army checkpoints in the Sinai peninsula’s two main northern cities of Rafah and Arish on Monday, killing six and wounding 11, medical sources at the Ministry of Health revealed Monday.

Two civilians, two army officers and two policemen were killed, Reuters reported.

This is deemed the most violent day this month, in terms of number of attacks and victims in a single day.