 Egyptian security forces stormed four militant strongholds in the northern Sinai Peninsula early yesterday, fighting intense gunbattles and arresting 26 people in a massive search for suspects linked to recent bombings in the rugged desert region. A total of 650 people have been arrested in Sinai since a force of some 4,000 security personnel backed by armored vehicles launched the sweep Sunday through Sinai’s desert plains and soaring mountains, a police official said.
Authorities were looking for suspects in a triple bombing that killed at least 88 people last month at Egypt’s popular Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on the southern tip of the Sinai. That attack came 10 months after bombings at two other Sinai resorts near the Israeli border, Taba and Ras Shitan, that killed more than 30 people. Yesterday’s shootouts occurred at four locations near the Israeli border, where police stormed suspected militant hide-outs, two police officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters. One battle continued last evening at the top of Al-Halal Mountain, about 50 kilometers from the border, where a key suspect in the attacks - Salem Khadr El-Shenoub - was believed to be hiding with other militants, a security official said. The 900-meter-high mountain is full of caves and valleys, and Shenoub booby trapped entrances with explosives. Police were using loudspeakers, calling on the militants to surrender.
"Come out witcher hands up, youse guys!"
"You'll never take us alive, coppers!" |
Three security men were wounded in a land mine explosion in Qusaima, site of another of the battles. The mine was believed to have been left over from the Arab-Israeli wars of 1968 and 1973.
| "Mahmoud! Don't step on [KABOOM!]... that." |
In a separate clash Tuesday, a police officer and two suspected militants were wounded in a shootout east of the Suez Canal between the security forces and suspected militants responsible for the Sharm El-Sheikh and Taba bombings. Almost all those arrested so far in the Sharm and Taba attacks are Egyptians, and authorities have not said whether they believe the suspects were members of homegrown militant cells inspired by foreign, Al-Qaeda linked organizations or were directly linked to outsiders.
| They really don't have to be. The Egyptians have enough insiders they've released from jug. And the cannon fodder they're looking for may well never have been in jug. |
So far, the new sweep has not reached the level of the wholesale roundup conducted after the Taba bombings. Two men charged in the attacks are on trial in Cairo but deny they were involved. Nearly 3,000 people were detained in that roundup, and some have voiced concern the Sharm bombings may have been the work of disaffected Egyptians in retaliation for the heavy-handed response to the Taba attacks. |