Former spymaster Omar Suleiman lashed out at the Muslim Brotherhood and said his own candidacy for the presidency aimed to restore security and stability in Egypt, in an interview published on Monday.

The Brotherhood, which dominates parliament and is heavily favored for the presidency, has "lost a lot of its popularity", said Suleiman, who was military intelligence chief under ousted president Hosni Mubarak.

"There has been a change on the Egyptian streets. The practices of the Brotherhood and their monopolistic ways and unacceptable pronouncements have contributed to the change in public opinion," he said.

Suleiman, a sworn enemy of Islamists before last year's revolution, which brought down Mubarak, vowed not to drop out of the May 23-24 election despite alleged threats from Islamists.

"Ever since the announcement that I was running, I have received on my mobile and through friends threats and messages that 'we will take our revenge' from elements of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups," he said.

"If some people think such threats will make me go back on this decision, they are mistaken," said Suleiman.

The former general played down his links with the ousted government and the military, which has been ruling Egypt in the interim since Mubarak's fall.

"If I was intelligence chief and then vice-president for a few days, that doesn't mean I was part of a regime against which the people revolted," he said.

"The revolution has created a new reality and no one can bring back a regime that has fallen and that the populace has rejected," he said.

"I am counting on the little people, on the young and on intellectuals. I am counting on those who want security and stability, who want to be able to earn a living in dignity and freedom," he said.

Suleiman said he could "save the country from its chaos" by restoring security and attracting foreign investors back to Egypt.

Registration for candidates in Egypt's first post-uprising presidential election closed on Sunday, amid last-minute twists and turns that have shaken the political race.

The candidates include former Arab League chief Amr Mussa, ultra-conservative Islamist preacher Hazem Abu Ismail, the Brotherhood's Khairat El-Shater, as well as Suleiman, who registered less than half an hour before the deadline.

Also on Monday, militants blew up a gas pipeline in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula that transports fuel to neighboring Israel and Jordan, a senior Egyptian security official said.

The attack was the 14th time the pipeline was targeted since the popular uprising that ousted Mubarak last year. Previous bombings of the pipeline have been blamed on Islamist militants who have stepped up activity in Sinai, taking advantage of a security vacuum caused by a thin police presence in the post-Mubarak era.

Northern Sinai security chief Major General Saleh al-Masri said Monday's blast hit a section of the pipeline outside the city of el-Arish but did not cause major damage or a fire since the gas flow had been cut following a blast on the pipeline last month.

AFP-AP