Unknown assailants blew up a natural gas pipeline in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday, in the fourth such attack this year.

The explosion took place south of the coastal city of Al-Arish on a pipeline supplying an industrial zone in central Sinai, state news agency MENA reported.

There were no immediate reports of casualties and security forces were scanning the area to identify the cause of the blast, security sources said.

It is the fourth such attack this year and the 20th since the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Targeting the pipeline has repeatedly forced a halt to gas exports to Israel and Jordan, which the pipeline also feeds.

Egypt stopped supplying gas to Israel in April 2012, citing business disputes.

Militant attacks in the volatile Sinai region, adjoining Israel and the Gaza Strip, have increased since the army, prompted by mass protests, deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July.

Dozens of police and soldiers have been killed in bombings and shootings, and the army has killed dozens of militant suspects in air and ground offensives this year.

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