Egypt's most active militant group says that one of its founding leaders was killed when a bomb he was carrying was set off by a car accident.

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The statement posted early Saturday on militant websites by Ansar Beit al-Maqdis or Champions of Jerusalem, said Tawfiq Mohammed Freij was killed Tuesday. It did not where the accident took place.

Scene of deadly attack in 2011 that claimed the lives of 8 Israelis (Photo: Reuters)

It said Freij, also known Abu Abdullah, was one of the founders of Ansar. He masterminded the group's tactic of blowing up pipelines to stop Egyptian gas supplies to Israel.

It said he was the "field commander" of an August 2011 cross-border attack into Israel that killed eight people.

The statement said Freij moved to Cairo in early 2013, and in charge of a failed attack on the interior minister in September.