Egypt foiled extremist ‘state’ in Sinai, president says

The military spokesman said 21 soldiers and more than 100 militants were killed in the attacks and ensuing clashes, after security officials said dozens more soldiers had been killed.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi donned battle dress for the first time in over a year to inspect troops in the troubled northern part of the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, after Islamic State-linked militants struck a deadly blow against the military this week in a coordinated assault.

The country has now launched airstrikes against the group, which calls itself Sinai Province.

The Sinai has been home to an insurgency since the Egyptian military, led by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi overthrew the democratically-elected government of Mohammed Morsi in 2013.

Meanwhile, Egyptian authorities have arrested 13 members of the Muslim Brotherhood on suspicion of planting bombs around the Suez Canal, security sources said. The ex- head of the Egyptian army hung up his uniforms last spring to run for president.

The murder of Egypt’s top prosecutor Hisham Barakat by a vehicle bomb last week has prompted another round of promises from officials to impose stricter laws against dissidents.

“We built a similar fence on the Golan Heights against ISIS and other terrorist elements there, and, as you know, we have also started to build a security fence on our eastern border”, Netanyahu said.

“All of these attacks were conducted days apart, and showed a level of sophistication and coordination that affirms the presence of organized terrorist activity perpetrated by the Muslim Brotherhood“, it said in a statement to reporters on Saturday.

Officials regularly blame all attacks on the Brotherhood, the country’s largest political movement which staged major electoral gains between the 2011 ouster of longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak and the election of Morsi.

Late Wednesday, a resident of Sheikh Zuweid who was in Cairo and had spoken by phone to relatives and friends in the town, said many civilians were trapped by the fighting, with no water or electricity. The group claimed responsibility of the Friday shelling in a post on Twitter stating that “three Grad rockets were fired at Jewish positions in occupied Palestine.” It seems as if there were no injuries nor casualties after the Israeli police stated that it found the remnants in an open area.

He also criticised the media coverage of Wednesday’s attacks, saying it presented “an unreal image about Egypt, its stability and security”. The armed forces statement accompanied photos of killed militants with camouflage gears.

A draft antiterrorism bill that has been approved by the cabinet has raised eyebrows in Egypt’s media sector with critics describing it as a censorship move, but Justice Minister Ahmed Al Zind said the draft is being blown out of proportion.