11 Egyptian security forces members killed in a terrorist attack in Sinai Peninsula

Africa, Middle East, News May 9, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

At least 11 members of the Egyptian armed forces, including an officer, were killed during an attack in the Sinai Peninsula that took place on May 8.

According to the spokesperson of the Egyptian army, the ‘foiled terrorist attack’ was made on a water-lifting station east of the Suez Canal in the Sinai Peninsula. Apart from 11 security forces members, who were killed during the attack, five were injured.

“The terrorist elements are being chased and besieged in one of the isolated areas in Sinai,” Egyptian army spokesman Gharib Abdel Hafez said in a statement.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi also condemned the act of terrorism against the country’s armed forces. In a statement released through an official social media, he vowed that he would continue to fight the rebels and ‘uproot terrorism’ from Egypt.

A group of armed militants ambushed the security forces guarding the pumping facility on the eastern side of the Suez Canal. According to a source, militants attacked the security personnel with an explosive-rigged vehicle and used pick-up trucks to open fire, before the Egyptian military reinforcements chased them off.

The armed militants fled into the desert in Northern Sinai without being caught. So far no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The current attack has resulted in the heaviest loss that the Egyptian army has sustained in its years-long campaign against terrorist organizations including ISIS. Last week, a suspected militant attack also blew up a gas pipeline in the northern Sinai town of Bir al-Abd resulting in a huge fire, however, no casualties were reported.

*^{Egyptian security forces’ armored vehicles near a checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula. (Image Credit: AFP/via TRT)}*

Egypt has been battling ISIS loyal groups in the Sinai Peninsula since the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood Leader Mohammad Morsi in 2012. The Sinai peninsula has become the main theater of militant operations. The intensity and frequency of such attacks have increased since 2018 when Egypt’s military launched an armed operation in Sinai as well as other parts of Egypt bordering Libya.

The fights between armed forces and militant groups in Sinai have usually taken place hidden from the public eyes in deserts, outside observers and journalists have been barred from covering the events as it is deemed too dangerous by Egypt’s administration. According to the sources of the Egyptian military, more than 1000 suspected militant fighters and dozens of security personnel have been killed in these operations since 2018.

Several countries including the U.S., Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey, Libya, and Pakistan have condemned the recent attack in Sinai. The Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit also condemned the terrorist attack. In his statement he expressed the Arab League’s solidarity with Egypt and its efforts to combat terrorist activities and protect its security and stability, stressing the League’s support of the Egyptian authorities’ ongoing efforts to root out terrorism. Aboul Gheit also underscored the need to combine international efforts to eliminate such threats at all levels.