Egypt's Sisi cuts short Ethiopia visit
after 30 killed in Sinai
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[January 30, 2015]
By Maggie Fick and Yusri Mohamed
CAIRO/ISMAILIA (Reuters) - Egyptian
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi cut short a visit to Ethiopia for an
African Union summit on Friday, after Islamic State's Egyptian wing
claimed the killing of at least 30 security personnel in the Sinai
Peninsula.
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Sisi's office said in a statement that Sisi would return to Cairo
after Friday morning's opening session.
The four separate attacks on security forces in North Sinai on
Thursday night were among the bloodiest in years. Most of the
casualties occurred in the bombing of a military hotel and base in
the heavily guarded provincial capital, al-Arish.
Security sources in Sinai said three military planes left al-Arish
for Cairo on Friday morning carrying 30 body bags, some of them
containing corpses in pieces from the bomb attacks. They said at
least five men were in critical condition and the death toll was
likely to rise.
Two children, one of them 6 months old, died on Friday from wounds
suffered on Thursday night as soldiers fought militants in a village
near Sheikh Zuweid, close to the Gaza Strip and Israel's border,
local medical sources said.
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An Islamist insurgency based in the Sinai has intensified since the
army ousted president Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in
July 2013 after mass protests. Hundreds of members of the security
forces have been killed.
The Brotherhood denies links to the insurgents but the government
makes no distinction between them.
The most active group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, changed its name to
Sinai Province last year when it swore allegiance to Islamic State,
the hardline Sunni militant group that has seized swathes of Iraq
and Syria, drawing U.S.-led air strikes.
A daily news broadcast released via Islamic State Twitter feeds said
Thursday's attacks had been led by "men of the Islamic State".
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Soldiers and police are often targeted at outposts outside Sinai's
main towns, but the attack on military facilities in al-Arish could
signal an escalation in their capabilities, said Zack Gold of the
Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
The week had already been a bloody one in Egypt. More than 25 people
were killed at the weekend when security forces fired at protesters
angered by what many perceive as a police state.
After two attacks in October in which 33 security personnel were
killed, Egypt declared a state of emergency in the area where Sinai
borders Gaza and accelerated plans to create a buffer strip.
Sisi, who as army chief toppled Mursi, says Egypt is fighting a war
on terrorism and has the support of Western and Gulf Arab allies.
(Additional reporting By Omar Fahmy and Mahmoud Mourad; Editing by
Kevin Liffey)
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