Egypt Searches For Palestinian Terror Cell
Y-Net:
Security forces look for four Palestinians who slipped into country from Gaza, are suspected of planning suicide attacks against resorts in Sinai Peninsula, local security official says. Search follows arrests of 15 Palestinians caught carrying weapons and explosives in town of el-Arish, other remote parts of Sinai desert
Egyptian security forces were looking for four Palestinians on Friday who slipped into the country from the Gaza Strip and were suspected of planning suicide attacks against resorts in the Sinai Peninsula, a local security official said.
The search follows the arrests of 15 Palestinians over the past few days who were caught carrying weapons and explosives in the town of el-Arish, located some 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the border, and other remote parts of the Sinai desert.
Twelve of those arrested were members of Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that seized control of Gaza last June, said a senior intelligence officer in northern Sinai, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
The group consisted of two cells arrested separately as they attempted to sneak out of el-Arish carrying explosives, electric circuits, machine guns and ammunition, the official added.
Egyptian officials have expressed concern that gunmen could attempt to sneak into the country ever since Hamas blew open the border wall with Gaza on January 23.
Israel issued a travel warning to its citizens last week, advising them not to visit Sinai, the vast desert peninsula between the Gaza border and Cairo, for fear of attacks by militants.
Egypt has attempted to reseal the breached frontier, but thousands of Palestinians continue to pour through.
On Friday, Hamas militants hauled away metal spikes Egyptian soldiers had placed at sections of the 12-kilometer-long (7-mile-long) border to choke off the flow of vehicles from Gaza.
Egyptian security forces have hired local Bedouins to help them track down the four suspected Palestinian suicide bombers, the official said. Bedouins have a reputation for being experts at navigating the desert, finding back ways to avoid checkpoints.
There have been three major bomb attacks in Sinai since October 2004. The blasts in the resorts of Sharm el-Sheik, Taba and Dahab killed 125 people. The government blamed the attacks on a local Islamic militant group, which appears to have been inspired by al-Qaeda ideology.
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“slipped” blowing up the wall and gates with the guards watching is far from slipping…
February 1st, 2008 at 9:38 pmPalestinian terror group? I thought all Palestinians were terrorists
February 1st, 2008 at 11:23 pm….reaping the whirlwind.
February 2nd, 2008 at 1:00 amWho are the terrorists?
February 2nd, 2008 at 9:43 amThe Palestinians of Gaza, held in a vast prison or those preventing them from going back to their native land from which they were brutally expelled in 1947-1948?