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| Africa: North |
| Suspected Egypt Militants Use Land Mines |
| 2005-08-28 |
| Suspected Islamic militants hiding in rugged mountains of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and under intense pressure from 5,000 security forces sweeping through the region have begun mining the approaches to their hideouts, authorities said. One of the hard-to-detect land mines wounded a senior officer on Saturday, and police believe the devices also were responsible for explosions Thursday that killed a police major general and lieutenant colonel on the road to Sinai's Halal mountain. In Saturday's attack, a mine concealed in an approach to Halal mountain, about 35 miles south of the Mediterranean coastal town of el-Arish, exploded when a vehicle carrying a police lieutenant colonel and a police informant drove across it, a police official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Sinai is littered with decades-old land mines from past Arab-Israeli wars, but that ordnance now is believed too old and unstable for use by militants. Security officials said they were concerned that new land mines may have been smuggled into the forbidding region by foreigners who have decided to help in arming local militants. |
| Posted by:Fred |