EGYPT-SECURITY/RAFAH SMOKE Smoke rises in Egypt's North Sinai amid fighting

Record ID: 149171

  • Title: EGYPT-SECURITY/RAFAH SMOKE Smoke rises in Egypt's North Sinai amid fighting
  • Date: 1st July 2015
  • Summary: NORTHERN SINAI, EGYPT AS SEEN FROM GAZA STRIP (JULY 1, 2015) (REUTERS) BLACK SMOKE RISING FROM NORTHERN SINAI AS SEEN FROM RAFAH AREA EXPLOSION IN A DISTANCE, SMOKE RISING WATCHTOWER AT RAFAH BORDER CROSSING BETWEEN EGYPT AND GAZA BORDER AREA SMOKE RISING IN NORTH SINAI STRUCTURES ALONG BORDER SMOKE BILLOWING FROM AFAR STRUCTURES ALONG BORDER SMOKE RISING
  • Embargoed: 16th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4WKKHS9NMM05NI0Q9DJ7ISD27
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Black smoke was seen rising from Egypt's north Sinai on Wednesday (July 1) after Islamic State attacked several military checkpoints on the peninsula and amid reports of fierce fighting between the militants and the Egyptian military in the area.
    In the co-ordinated assault, at least 70 combatants and civilians were killed -- one of the biggest militant attacks in Egypt's modern history.
    The action marked a significant escalation in violence in the Sinai Peninsula, located between Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Suez Canal.
    It also raised questions about the government's ability to contain an insurgency that has already killed hundreds of police and soldiers.
    Islamic State's Egyptian affiliate, Sinai Province, claimed responsibility for the attacks.
    The Egyptian army said five checkpoints were hit by about 70 militants and the fighting raged for more than eight hours.
    One security source put the number of militants at about 300, armed with heavy weapons and anti-aircraft weaponry.
    Security sources said the militants had planned to lay siege to Sheikh Zuweid town, where most of the fighting has been concentrated, by hitting all army checkpoints simultaneously.
    Army F-16 jets and Apache helicopters strafed the region. Soldiers had destroyed three landcruisers fitted with anti-aircraft guns, Egypt's army said.
    The insurgency is seeking to topple the Cairo government. It has intensified since 2013, when then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi removed President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood after mass protests against his rule.
    Islamic State had urged its followers to escalate attacks during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan which started in mid-June, though it did not specify Egypt as a target. In April, the army extended by three months a state of emergency imposed in parts of Sinai.
    The Egyptian army has taken several measures to crush the insurgency. Besides bombardments in the region, they have destroyed tunnels into the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip and created a security buffer zone in northern Sinai. The army is also digging a trench along the border with Gaza in an effort to prevent smuggling.
    Under the terms of Egypt's 1979 peace accord with Israel, the Sinai is largely demilitarized. But Israel has regularly agreed to Egypt bringing in reinforcements to tackle the Sinai insurgency, and one Israeli official indicated there could be further such deployments.
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