Attacks in Egypt's Sinai kill 33 security
personnel
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[October 25, 2014]
By Yusri Mohamed
ISMAILIA (Reuters) - Two attacks in
Egypt's Sinai Peninsula killed 33 security personnel on Friday, security
sources said, in some of the worst anti-state violence since Islamist
President Mohamed Mursi was overthrown last year.
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The violence prompted Egypt to declare a three-month state of
emergency in parts of North Sinai, where the violence took place,
the state news agency reported.
The attacks are a setback for the government, which had managed over
the past few months to make some progress in the struggle against an
Islamist militant insurgency in the Sinai as it focuses on trying to
repair the economy.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has also expressed serious concerns
over militants who are thriving in the chaos of post-Gaddafi Libya
and are opposed to the Cairo government.
Egypt has offered to train anti-militant, pro-government Libyan
forces while it tries to contain the Sinai insurgency. Security
officials say Egyptian warplanes flown by Libyan pilots recently
bombed militant targets in Libya.
Thirty people were killed in the first attack in the al-Kharouba
area northwest of al-Arish, near the Gaza Strip, the sources said.
Military helicopters transferred the dead and wounded to Cairo.
Among them were several senior officers from the Second Field Army
based in Ismailia, security sources said.
The car bomb attack targeted two armored vehicles at a checkpoint
near an army installation, the sources said. They said the big
explosion and high death toll were likely due to the vehicles being
loaded with ammunition and heavy weapons.
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Security officials gave conflicting accounts of the first attack,
with one Sinai-based official saying a rocket-propelled grenade was
used. More than 25 people were wounded.
Hours later, gunmen opened fire on a checkpoint in al-Arish, killing
three members of the security forces, officials said.
The casualties were transported to Cairo by military helicopters,
state news agency MENA reported.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack.
Similar previous operations have been claimed by Egypt's most active
militant group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis.
Though the vast peninsula has long been a security headache for
Egypt and its neighbors, the removal of President Mursi of the
Muslim Brotherhood brought the region new violence that has morphed
into an Islamist insurgency
Security forces have been squaring off against militants who have
killed hundreds of soldiers and police since the army toppled Mursi
in July 2013 after mass protests against his rule.
Most attacks have been in Sinai, although militant groups have
claimed responsibility over the past year for deadly bomb attacks on
state installations in the Nile Delta and in Cairo.
The Brotherhood says it is peaceful and denies government claims it
has links to the Sinai-based Islamist militants.
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"COMBING OPERATION"
Sisi convened the National Defence Council on Friday evening for an
emergency meeting in response to what his office called "a terrorist
attack".
Shortly after the second attack, Sinai residents reported that phone
lines and Internet services had been cut.
Security sources said the communications shutdown coincided with the
beginning of a military operation east of al-Arish in response to
the attacks. Apache helicopters bombed areas south of the towns of
Sheikh Zuwaid and Rafah, near the Gaza Strip, which sources said
were believed to be "militant hideouts."
MENA said armed forces were "conducting a large-scale combing
operation" involving military helicopters and special forces troops,
but gave no further details.
This is not the first time in the 16 months since Mursi's overthrow
when news of a deadly attack against security forces in the Sinai
has been swiftly followed by official announcements about a fresh
assault on militants.
Washington provides Cairo with military aid of around $1.3 billion
annually. A partial suspension of aid following Mursi's ouster was
relaxed in April, when the U.S. said it would deliver 10 Apache
helicopters, which have not yet arrived in Egypt.
The Pentagon said at the time that aid would help Egypt's
counter-terrorism operations in the Sinai.
Six soldiers were killed on Sunday by a roadside bomb southwest of
al-Arish.
Security officials have expressed concern that Islamic State
militants who control parts of Iraq and Syria have forged ties with
radical Islamist groups in Egypt.
(Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy and Mostafa Hashem; Writing by
Maggie Fick; Editing by Tom Heneghan and Gunna Dickson)
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