Egypt Continues Crackdown on Sinai Militants Near Gaza Border, Finds Anti-Aircraft Missiles and Motorized Paragliders

Egypt Continues Crackdown on Sinai Militants Near Gaza Border, Finds Anti-Aircraft Missiles and Motorized Paragliders

Egypt’s crackdown on militants in the Sinai continued over the weekend as military forces raided several villages near Rafah, Palestinian Ma’an News Agency reported.

Ma’an reported seeing military helicopters  just across Egypt’s border with Gaza.

A spokesman for the Egyptian Army, Ahmed Ali, said that operations Sunday included clearing buildings deemed a security threat within a 2,000 foot corridor roughly half-a-mile from the Gaza border, Reuters reported. 

The army has destroyed 152 smuggling tunnels running from the Sinai into Gaza since June 30, he added.

On Saturday the Egyptian army discovered explosives under a border guard post in Rafah and later found a detonator 800 meters away, Reuters quoted Ali as saying.

Ali also said that during its recent operations the army seized weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles and motorized paragliders, which indicated an effort to develop new methods of attack.

The army has killed around 100 Islamists in the area over the past two months, and terror groups have killed 58 policemen, 21 soldiers and 17 civilians there, according to an AFP tally cited by Ma’an.

More than 100 members of Egypt’s security forces have been killed and 140 more have been wounded in Sinai since Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s ouster in July, Ali said.

Labels: Egypt, Islamists, Sinai

posted by Pieface @ Sunday, September 15, 2013