generalspeaking

Attack and Counter-Attack

Egypt's interim government sentenced 52 Muslim Brotherhood members to prison terms this week.  One Brotherhood member was given a life-term sentence, another three, fifteen years, and 48 were sentenced to terms from five to ten years for attacking soldiers in Suez on August 14 when some of the fiercest clashes took place in protests against the removal of President Mohammad Morsi and the Brotherhood from power.

Mubasher Misr, al-Jazeera television's local station in Cairo has also been ordered off air by Cairo administrative court, as a result of its clear Islamist sympathies. Its offices have been raided repeatedly by security forces, and dozens of staff detained. Two of whom remain in custody. This crackdown on the media has resulted in international condemnation of the interim government for restraining the media.

But government officials accuse it of operating without a permit, and of spreading rumours inimical to the health and welfare of the government. Four other channels were ruled to be banned as well.

A rocket attack on militants on the Sinai peninsula also took place this week. The village of al-Toma was hit in an army operation in the northern Sinai. Turning the tables, as it were, since it is usually Bedouin Salafists, al-Qaeda member-groups, suspected Hamas terrorists aided and abetted by Muslim Brotherhood militants who attack police stations and slaughter security personnel, leaving a very clear message of their intention to bring down the government.

Army helicopter gunships killed eight militants and wounded another fifteen extremists in the Sinai Peninsula attack. The border between Gaza and Israel has been the site of an upsurge in terrorist activity since the removal of the Brotherhood from government. An increase in lawlessness, attacks on gas pipelines to Jordan and Israel, attacks on security installations, have alerted the military to the need for greater preventive measures, hence the latest operation.

Not responding to the killing of twenty-five policemen in the past month would simply act as an encouragement to the terrorists. The fears of an Islamist insurgency similar to one that ravaged the country in the 1990s, is reason enough as well, for the military to become more vigilant and increasingly proactive. In the crackdown suspects have been arrested, and smuggling tunnels to Gaza have been destroyed.

A buffer zone has now been established along the border. Local residents claim that twenty houses were destroyed in the clean-up process. On the other hand, local residents were warned previously by the military that if the smuggling tunnels, many of which end up under the floors of some houses, were not closed down, those houses were in danger of being destroyed. As good as their word.

The interior minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, promised he intended to use a firm hand to make Sinai a "terrorist-free zone" by the end of 2013. Mr. Ibrahim also spoke of the Muslim Brotherhood filtering funding through to Hamas and other Islamist militants in the Sinai. And now, a response to Mr. Ibrahim has been mounted, although the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists have been swift in their denial of responsibility.

A bomb was detonated on Thursday close by the convoy of Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim in northeast Cairo. State TV announced the blast not to have been the result of a car bomb as first assumed, but that the bomb was tossed by unknown assailants from the shelter of a nearby building at about 10:30 a.m. "Initial investigations showed a big-sized explosive device targeted [at my] car while it was passing by", the minister informed state-owned television hours after the attack.

The bomb, he felt, seemed to have been "remotely detonated". The Minister escaped the assassination attempt unharmed. Four vehicles from among his convoy were "damaged" as well as a number of civilian-owned cars. Six security officers and a child were injured in the attack, according to Egypt's Ambulance Authority; in total 21 people had sustained severe injuries including leg amputations. And some shops had also been blast-damaged.

Investigations led to the conclusion that at least 50 kg. of TNT explosives or similar chemicals were used in the blast. Cairo's Nasr City area was the stronghold of a major protest camp by Morsi loyalists. Leading the interim government to accuse Morsi's followers of  terrorism and incitement to violence. The response was predictable enough.

"The Alliance strongly affirms that is is against any acts of violence, even if they are aimed at those who have committed crimes against the people." Adding it anticipates that the bombing will be used as the reason why the state of emergency should be extended and with it the plan to "expand the use of brutality, repression, and detentions."

Brotherhood leaders warned a violent crackdown on their group could have the ultimate effect of radicalizing young Islamists placing them outside of Brotherhood control. It would be the actions of the military and the interim government that would encourage the Brotherhood youth to turn to violence. As evidenced by the mobs  who attacked police stations, churches, Christian-owned shops and government buildings across the country the day security forces cleared the protest camps.


They themselves, needless to say, are innocent of all violent actions.

Labels: Conflict, Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood, Sinai

posted by Pieface @ Friday, September 06, 2013