Egypt’s armed forces step up security in Sinai peninsula
Egypt’s armed forces have stepped up measures against alleged militants in the Sinai peninsula angered by the removal of the Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, and believed to be preparing for a possible offensive.
A high-ranking security official in North Sinai said armed forces had increased roadblocks, begun escorting foreign visitors, shut down illegal tunnels and the official border crossing leading to the adjacent Gaza Strip and expanded aerial surveillance of the area after a series of attacks on security forces, energy infrastructure and religious minorities.
The escalation in violence was underlined on Monday when a bus carrying workers employed at a cement factory was attacked leaving at least three people dead and 17 wounded, security and medical sources said.
The latest violent incident in the North Sinai region came after the official state news agency MENA said Egyptian army Apache helicopters on Saturday targeted a vehicle carrying alleged militants after an earlier attack on the airport in Arish, the capital of the province.
“These are armed gangs that are getting their weapons from outside sources and sources within Egypt,” said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
“The people who are attacking the checkpoints are the supporters of Mr Morsi who are against him leaving office. These groups are just trying to prove their existence in Sinai and they want to tell us that even though Morsi is gone, we are still here.”
At least eight security officials have been killed in the north of Sinai since Mr Morsi’s July 3 ousting. Two Christians have also been killed, allegedly at the hands of Islamist extremists. Security officials claim they have killed at least 37 suspected militants since the beginning of the latest round of unrest, according to MENA.
Egypt remains unsettled after Mr Morsi’s removal despite a measure of calm in the capital coinciding with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Interim leaders installed by the military have rushed to form a government. On Sunday, the country’s interim president Adli Mansour, swore in former UN nuclear energy chief and liberal politician Mohamed ElBaradei as his vice-president for international affairs. Interim prime minister Hazem el-Beblawi named former Egyptian envoy to Washington Nabil Fahmy as foreign minister. A liberal economist and US-educated former World Bank official, Ahmed Galal, said on Sunday that he had been named finance minister.
US deputy secretary of state Bill Burns left on Sunday for an official visit to Cairo to meet “interim government officials as well as civil society and business leaders” and to press for “an end to all violence, and a transition leading to an inclusive, democratically elected civilian government,” the state department said.
Prosecutors said this weekend they were looking into complaints alleging mismanagement of the economy and unlawful prison escapes filed by civilians against Mr Morsi and loyalist Muslim Brotherhood organisations. They have also begun examining the finances of top officials in the Brotherhood, which has vowed to maintain a protest encampment in eastern Cairo.
State television reported on Sunday that the country’s prosecutor-general has frozen the financial assets of top Brotherhood officials including spiritual leader Mohamed Badie, the organisation’s number two Khairat al-Shater, and the leaders of the group’s Freedom and Justice party, Saad Kataatni and Mohamed Beltagy, along with two others.
It has also seized the assets of the ultra conservative preacher Hazem Abu Ismail, the top two officials of the moderate Islamist Wasat party and the leader of the ultraconservative Gamaa Islamiya.
The restive and impoverished Sinai Peninsula has been a source of security woes since the uprising two years ago that led to the overthrow of former president Hosni Mubarak. Bandits use it as a conduit to smuggle weapons to the Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. Islamist militants and tribesmen frequently attack security forces, bomb energy pipelines and kidnap western visitors.
“Sinai is a good battlefield for them,” the security official said, referring to the militants. “It is big and it borders another country.” The mostly desert and mountainous region also abuts the Suez Canal, a transit corridor for 4 per cent of the world’s petroleum supplies and a critical source of revenue for the Egyptian government.
Residents and media reports suggested the possibility of a potential widening of security measures. Local media reported military aircraft flying on the weekend over Arish, dropping leaflets that urged residents to remain off the streets and report any attempts to attack security forces.
“Be assured we are one step away from you to protect you, your family, and your property,” the leaflets reportedly said. “Do not allow anyone who does not belong to this good earth to exchange violence with us or kill us.”
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