| Washington Post | - |
CAIRO
- The Egyptian military pounded Islamist militant positions, reportedly
killing 23 extremists in dawn raids in Sinai on Thursday, a day after
an unprecedented wave of attacks by Islamic State-linked extremists in
the restive peninsula that ...
Egypt military pounds Sinai militant positions, kills 23
An Egyptian armored vehicle patrols on the Egyptian side of the border, seen from the south of the Gaza Strip, on Thursday. (Adel Hana/AP)
The fighting — the bloodiest in the Sinai Peninsula in decades — heightened tensions across Egypt after the assassination in Cairo this week of the country’s chief prosecutor. President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi on Wednesday vowed to step up the legal battle against Islamist militants.
The escalation comes on the second anniversary of the military’s ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. Also Wednesday, a special forces raid on a Cairo apartment killed nine members of Morsi’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, which responded by calling for a “rebellion.”
In Sinai, security officials said airstrikes killed 23 extremists just south of Rafah, a key border town near the Gaza Strip.
The officials also said that the army was searching for extremists house to house in the town of Sheikh Zuweid — where the militants attacked a string of army checkpoints the previous day — and was de-mining roads that militants had booby-trapped with mines and improvised explosives devices in and around the area.
Militants in northern Sinai have battled security forces for years but stepped up their attacks after the 2013 ouster of Morsi. Sissi, then the army chief, led the ouster and was elected president last year.
Authorities and pro-government media have blamed much of Egypt’s recent violence on the Brotherhood, which has been branded a terrorist group. The Brotherhood denies involvement, although it and other Morsi supporters have faced a sweeping crackdown that has led to thousands of arrests, mass convictions and death sentences. Morsi is among those condemned to die, but he has an appeals process ahead of him.
The latest bloodshed came as Egypt was marking the second anniversary of Morsi’s July 3 overthrow, although the celebrations were muted amid the killing of Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat on Monday and fears of unrest from the former president’s supporters.
At Barakat’s funeral Tuesday, Sissi pledged to bring his killers to justice. He signaled an even harsher campaign against the Brotherhood.
On Thursday, a newspaper close to the government said the militants behind the Sinai attacks used sophisticated weaponry, including Russian-made Kornet antitank missiles. In a graphic on its front page, el-Watan said the militants also used mortars, antiaircraft guns and other guided missiles.
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